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Photo: Shinerunner at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Located adjacent to Canalside, the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park opened in 1977 and consists of three historic warships: the USS Little Rock, a cruiser which served in the Mediterranean Sea during the Cold War as a flagship for the Second and Sixth Fleets of the U.S. Navy and is now the only guided missile cruiser in the country on display; the USS The Sullivans, a destroyer that saw intense action in the Pacific theater of World War II; and the USS Croaker, a submarine that also saw action in the Pacific during WWII. These ships are open for self-guided tours during the warm months. There is also a museum on site that displays memorabilia such as Medals of Honor awarded to area residents.
The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, formerly known as The Buffalo Naval and Servicemen's Park, is a museum on the bank of the Buffalo River in Buffalo, New York. It is home to several decommissioned US Naval vessels, including the Cleveland-class cruiser USS Little Rock, the Fletcher-class destroyer USS The Sullivans, and the submarine USS Croaker. All three are open to the public for tours.
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Serene and scenic cruises on Lake Erie and around the harbor are to be had on the Spirit of Buffalo, an unmissable 73-foot schooner that affords them the opportunity to experience a trip aboard a traditional 19th-century sailing vessel. Day cruises, sunset sails, and a Wednesday "Wine in the Wind" Cruise featuring local vintages from the Niagara Peninsula are all offered; kids love the Pirate Cruises that sail on Saturdays and Sundays. All cruises leave from the Commercial Slip at Canalside. Private charters are available as well.
Situated on 20 acres (8 ha) of formerly idle land at the harbor, Canalside combines the celebration and preservation of Buffalo's rich history as a rough-and-tumble canal town with an expansion of waterfront recreational opportunities for Buffalonians of today to enjoy. At Canalside, amenities such as tour boats offering cruises of the harbor, river, and lake, a lengthy slate of festivals, and one of the city's favorite new restaurants (Liberty Hound) can be enjoyed in an environment that also pays tribute to history with features such as a recreation of the Commercial Slip — once the western end of the mighty Erie Canal — on the side of which are the restored foundations of old Canal District buildings, dating to the mid-19th century and rediscovered in the early 2000s. As well, a restored canal bridge, interpretive plaques, and the enthralling Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park are on the scene. With further expansion of the offerings slated for the near future, such as two new hotels, a children's museum, a sports complex, and restaurants and shops, Canalside is only going to get better as time goes on.
Ralph C. Wilson Children's Museum
Explore & More was founded and spent the first quarter-century of its existence in the village of East Aurora (best known as home of the Fisher-Price toy company), but moved in 2019 to an all-new four-story space in Canalside with a revamped set of exhibits based on telling the story of Buffalo to the littlest youngsters through the medium of play. Kids can pilot boats down a miniature Erie Canal in the "Moving Water" exhibit, learn about "Being Good Neighbors" with folks of different backgrounds, or strap on a hard hat and play architect in the "Building Buffalo" exhibit, constructing their very own house or bridge using play tools and building materials. And on the first Friday of each month when they're open late, the rooftop terrace is a great place to catch the Buffalo Bisons' post-game fireworks display at nearby Sahlen Field.
A work of local artist Casey Riordan, Shark Girl is a life-size fiberglass statue of a young girl with an old-fashioned blue dress, bright red shoes, and a great white shark for a head that's been perplexing — and polarizing — visitors to Canalside since it was unveiled in 2014, borne of a partnership between the city government and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery aimed at promoting works of public art around Buffalo. Shark Girl is a recurring character in Millard's repertoire of paintings and drawings — a representation, she says, of "the existential conundrums of life, love, family, and loss". She sits atop a boulder on one of the whipple-truss bridges over the restored canal.
The Ice at Canalside is New York State's largest outdoor ice rink, two and a half times the size of a regulation hockey surface and three times the size of the skating rink at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Located on the new northern extension of the Commercial Slip — the site of both the Erie Canal terminus and the playing surface at the old Memorial Auditorium (a special insignia on the surface of the rink pays homage to the Buffalo Sabres' former home ice) — the Ice at Canalside opened just in time for the start of the 2014-15 skating season, and also hosts broomball, curling, and other winter pastimes. Skates and "ice bikes" are available for rent as well. In summer, the Ice at Canalside is converted to a lovely reflecting pool, with old-fashioned whipple-truss bridges crossing over the water that evoke the bygone days of the Erie Canal.
The miniature remote-control sailboats you see puttering around the rewatered Erie Canal were inspired by the model boat races that have long taken place at Conservatory Pond in Manhattan's Central Park, and Canalside is still the only other place in the world that has them. As you stand alongside the edge of the water, you use the remote-control unit that the folks at Sail the Canal give you to adjust your boat's sail and rudder — but as with a real sailboat, the wind does all the rest of the work. For that extra touch of authenticity, they'll even sell you a captain's hat.