December is here once more, arriving to Western New York accompanied with its usual character. Mother Nature provides the powdery snow and sharp winds, we show up with the twinkly lights and evergreen boughs. Everywhere we look, we see signs of holidays, but also signals that another year is ending. Like we did at the end of 2023 and the end of 2024, this month’s HEP article is a look back at what the Heritage Engagement Project explored in 2025 and how these topics highlight the Conservancy’s efforts to preserve and create heritage at the Buffalo waterfront.
WINTER
In early 2025, we celebrated winter with two pieces of content meant to improve well-being during the dark days of January and February. The first, a blog article about Wintering Well, shared how thriving in winter can be both a personal ambition and a community-level goal. The piece paired suggestions for wintering well with notes on how our new park will help make those actions easier for everyone. Research encourages us to ask how we can move more in winter, as it boosts physical and mental well-being. The Ralph Wilson Park answers with a new sledding hill, state-of-the-art playspaces, and year-round walking and biking trails. Historical images in the article show how some of our wintering well suggestions have been a part of Buffalo winters for generations.
Photo: a crowd gathers to enjoy winter at a Buffalo park in 1956. Collection of the Buffalo History Museum. General photograph collection.
The second piece of winter content was also an attempt to provide more activity linked to human well-being. We launched our first microcourse, 5 Birds to Find this Winter. A microcourse is a mini class meant to teach something small and focused. In less than five minutes, the class teaches you how to identify five of our region’s winter waterfowl. Wildlife makes spending time at a park more enjoyable. While simply seeing local birds is enjoyable on its own, being able to call them by name further connects us to them. We hope this course will be a nudge each winter to get outside and go to the park to spot some of the region’s unique wildlife.
Photo: Cover page to our microcourse featuring Little Gills in flight, taken by Donald Dixon
SPRING
As winter snapped into spring, we turned our attention to our new legacy of greenery with an article called a Legacy of Trees. The human-influenced landscape that will become the park has seen its most massive transformation this year.
This springtime article shared some of the beauty we can expect once the park is complete. Future springs will see entrances lined with white-blooming Catalpa trees. Summers will be an explosion of native trees, shrubs, and plant life unlike anything the park has ever had before. Fall at the park will soon be stunning as well, as trees like Autumn Blaze Maples turn the skyline orange and scarlet. And winter won’t be forgotten, as even the whitest season will now see color with plants like Winter Red Winterberries. The work we do now to build and grow a legacy of nature in downtown Buffalo is what allows us to call this park a place of heritage. It is the most magnificent part of what we will leave for the future.
Photo: A polaroid from 1959 captures tree planting at another point in the park’s history. Collection of The Buffalo History Museum. General photograph collection.
SUMMER
Spring days warmed into summer and we started paying more attention to play. The new Ralph Wilson Park is, amongst other things, An Investment for Buffalo’s Kids. With a crystal clear connection between mental health and access to greenspaces in childhood, the play spaces of our new park will have a big impact on Buffalo’s future. Our article reviews some of the park features aimed at our youngest visitors. It also reminds us that investing in quality outdoor play is part of global efforts to build better cities for the future.
This picture of Buffalo kids playing on a slide in 1970 reminds us of the tradition of childhood summers spent at local parks. Collection of the Buffalo History Museum, General Photograph Collection.
The heat of summer also prompted a reflection on the heritage of another warm weather pastime: barbecues and the summer tradition of dining outdoors. During a northern summer, gathering to cookout is a tradition held by many. This tradition only stands to benefit from a state-of-the-art park that will provide exceptional new places to get together. From picnic shelters with grills to the great lawn with plenty of space to spread a blanket, the new Ralph Wilson Park will encourage people to move outdoor dining from private backyards to the community greenspace. Over time, this will help the park establish a reputation as the place to uphold these timeless summer traditions.
FALL
As summer moved into fall, Buffalo prepared to host an international conference that simultaneously celebrated a historical anniversary. In September, the World Canals Conference corresponded with an important date in New York’s history: the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal.
As the first all-water link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal is an important part of state history. In this HEP article, we explored The Erie Canal in Our Park’s History, showing how our greenspace was transformed by the canal in the past. It is also a part of our present. The physical presence of the inland waterway at the park disappeared in the 1930s, but the Erie Canal re-entered park history just last year. In 2024, Ralph Wilson Park gave new purpose to the Erie Canal. It used it to transport the new park bridge, engaging people all over the state in its journey. At the anniversary of the canal, we celebrated the use of a historic waterway to transport park architecture meant to connect current and future communities, a true linking of past, present, and future.
Photo: Aerial view of Buffalo in July 1932 showing the old section of the Erie Canal and the park to its left. Citation: Collection of The Buffalo History Museum. General photograph collection, Buffalo Views.
LOOKING FORWARD
Now that we’ve taken a look back, I want to thank you for joining me this year as we explored aspects of heritage in an urban park redesign. It is a privilege to be a part of the massive efforts going into what will soon be a crowned jewel of Great Lake Erie. Like many, I can’t wait to see the final results of a journey that started with a community envisioning something better and the philanthropy determined to make those visions possible. The future looks so bright and beautiful for Buffalo and the Ralph Wilson Park.
Wishing you a very happy and healthy holiday season.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Grow Allen, Author of the Heritage Engagement Project
Lead Photo: Lead Photo: Ice on picnic tables in the park in December of 1983. Collection of The Buffalo History Museum. General photograph collection.
Article written by Kathryn Grow Allen. To read more about the project this article is a part of, check out our HEP page for past and future reading on heritage-building at Ralph Wilson Park in Western New York.
