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Breakdancing at Allentown Art Festival, 1984
Breakdancing at Allentown Art Festival, June 1984. Photo courtesy Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society

Allentown Art Festival

The Allentown Art Festival was founded in 1957 by a group of business owners, residents, working artists and craftspersons in the area of Buffalo known as Allentown. From a modest first event featuring a handful of local exhibitors, the Festival, now organized by the Allentown Village Society, has grown into one of the country's largest and most respected outdoor art and crafts shows. Earning the moniker "Buffalo's Rite of Spring," the Festival is held every year on the second full weekend in June in the streets of what has now become the Allentown Historic Preservation District. In a typical year, approximately 450 exhibitors from over 35 states and Canada exhibit original work in all of the traditional art and crafts categories. Crowds for the two-day free event number in excess of 300,000 visitors. The Festival also incorporates an attractive assortment of food and beverage concessionaires. It has become a featured attraction, not only to residents of the Buffalo metropolitan area and their families, but also to tourists in Western New York and Southern Ontario. The project is documented by a report detailing the history of the festival, 33 8 x 10 photographs with descriptions, promotional brochures and flyers, and a Festival pin and patch.

Originally submitted by: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Senator.



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The Local Legacies project provides a "snapshot" of American Culture as it was expressed in spring of 2000. Consequently, it is not being updated with new or revised information with the exception of "Related Website" links.

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