Ever lively on Elmwood
Even in winter, vitality, variety populate nationally recognized commercial strip
The owner of an East Otto dairy hawked his Mocha Bama Pudding outside an Elmwood Avenue church.
Up the street near Bidwell Parkway, an 80-year-old peace activist, her face partially cloaked in a heavy scarf, took part in a curbside vigil.
Some folks were heading into the Crane Branch Library for an afternoon of armchair adventures. Others were hitting a pet shop to stock up on dog food.
These scenarios answered the burning question: Is the Elmwood Village experience as eclectic — perhaps even a tad eccentric — in the throes of a ferocious winter as it is when the summer sun shines on the popular commercial strip?
If you had cruised down a street that national planners have christened one of the nation’s 10 “great neighborhoods” on a wind-whipped Saturday, you likely would have concluded that Elmwood doesn’t lose its variety-packed luster even when crusted with snow.
Take the fiberglass calf that was perched on an icy ledge outside Lafayette Presbyterian Church on Elmwood Avenue at St. James Place. The critter looked out of place, and that was exactly the idea.
Patrick Lango not only knows how to milk cows; he also knows a thing or two about snaring people’s attention. So when he sets up shop every Saturday at the Wintermarket — the off-season alternative to the Bidwell Farmer’s Market — he brings his plastic bovine along.
Lango was outside the church selling low-fat orange yogurt and other dairy products.
Why not seek warmer refuge with the other vendors inside the church — local entrepreneurs who were selling everything from hard cider and wine, to veggie burgers and fresh baked goods?
“We’re getting free refrigeration out here,” replied the fourth-generation dairy farmer.
Besides, said Lango, setting up shop next to snow drifts tends to be a real people-magnet.
One of White Cow Dairy’s popular items these days is Mocha Bama Pudding, an edible delight that combines cocoa and coffee.
Produced to honor the nation’s 44th president, the concoction has garnered national attention, Lango said.
President Obama was also on the minds of people who had gathered a quarter of a mile away from the farmer’s market — but for a different reason.
Iris Alexander said she hoped the new president will take decisive steps to end the war in Iraq. Alexander, who will turn 81 in a couple weeks, was among eight demonstrators from “Women in Black” who stood at Elmwood and Bidwell to promote peace.
The group has been staging weekly events at the corner for years and has only missed one or two Saturdays since the 2001 terrorist attacks, said Jean Dickson, a member.
Despite the biting winds, the Elmwood Village was bustling Saturday with activity.
Many visitors hailed from other communities, including Miriam Wilson of Eggertsville.
Born and raised on Ashland Avenue, she moved to the suburbs years ago but recalled the Elmwood-Bidwell neighborhood as her childhood playground.
“I come back all the time,” she said. “It’s still a nice walking village with so many interesting businesses. I just love it.”
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