Category Archives: Arts & Entertainment

The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy – a not-for-profit group working to preserve that city’s beautiful system of Olmsted parks – is hosting tours of the Japanese Garden in Delaware Park this July 9.

 The garden tours will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., complete with a “traditional tea ceremony” and refreshments. The event is open to all members of the public and is free of charge.

The Japanese Garden, established in 1974 as a symbol of friendship between Buffalo and its sister city Kanazawa, Japan,  is located  off Elmwood Avenue and Nottingham Terrace, behind the Buffalo Historical Society building and along Mirror Lake in Delaware Park.

The Conservancy is also hosting a free concert this Wednesday, July 7 of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the Delaware Park Meadow at 7 p.m.

The 350-acre Delaware Park is one of more than 1,500 acres of parklands, boulevards and circles enhancing the urban landscape of Buffalo, New York. They are the work of 19^th century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who got his start designing Central Park in New York City in the middle years of that century.

In the greater Niagara region, Olmsted also designed parklands in and around Goat Island, at the brink of the falls in Niagara Falls, New York and Montebello Park in nearby St. Catharines, Ontario. Continue reading →

By Dr. William Hogg

Why Is It, Doctor?

Dr. William Hogg, speaking at hearing earlier this year on cuts to hospitals in Niagara Health System.

I recently got into a conversation with the alien resident inside my head. It was more like a question and answer session. The first question was not unexpected.

Why is it, doctor, that so few of your colleagues are speaking out about what is happening to our badly deteriorating health care system?

Well, it’s not that they are apathetic or indifferent. Many doctors feel sorry for the people who are being cheated by their government which is wrecking its own health care delivery system. Some of the old time doctors knew from the very outset that Medicare was being set up wrongly, incorrectly – and are amazed it has lasted so long as it has. And the fact is that most of the younger doctors figure they’ll have work whichever way it goes.

Each of those answers needs elaboration. As an old-timer yourself, what went wrong at the beginning?

We tried to warn government that a medical delivery system cannot work on a strict balanced budget in a typical business supply and demand bottom line format. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this April 26 announcement for federal funding to keep Brock’s Centre for the Arts in St. Catharines, Ontario alive. Over the many years, the Centre has drawn a range of some of the most talented and famous artists around the world to audiences in Niagara, from legendary standup comedian Phyllis Diller to top-drawer jazz and rock musicians, and many, many others. It is a great regional venue for the arts that deserves public support.)

Brock University's Centre for the Arts director Debbie Slate at a funding announcement this April 27 supporting the centre's future.

Brock’s Centre for the Arts will be able to present its 2010-11 and 2011-12 Professional Entertainment Series, thanks to an investment by the Government of Canada.

Rick Dykstra, Member of Parliament (St. Catharines), on behalf of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage, today (April 26) announced funding for the University’s Centre for the Arts.

The $120,000 in funding will support the 41st and 42nd editions of the Centre’s Professional Entertainment Series, which runs from September 2010 to March 2012. The series presents more than 70 music, dance, and theatre performances a year. Continue reading →

Photo courtesy of Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy

 One of the Greater Niagara Region’s most active preservation groups, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, and the Dent Neurologic Institute are hosting a series of music events for the public this winter in a picturesque Delaware Park setting.

The not-for profit Olmsted Parks Conservancy has continued to play a major role for years in maintaining and preserving the boulevard and park system  (named after the late landscape architect, Federick Law Olmsted of Central Park fame) that has enriched the urban landscape in so many of Buffalo’s older neighbourhoods for more than a century.

The music events will take place in the Marcy Casino, a classic heritage building overlooking one of the ponds in Delaware Park and they are highlighted below in the following media release the Conservancy has shared with Niagara At Large. Continue reading →