When it comes to visiting Buffalo, there are plenty of options these days – rides, buses, boats…and bikes. While most tour companies offer fascinating looks at the city’s heritage, they pretty much all stick to the same routine of travel and storytelling.
Now there is a new bike tour company called Buffalo Bike Tours, which aims to be a little more entertaining than the classic history and architecture tours. Marc Moscato, founder of Buffalo Bike Tours, hopes to draw more attention by “telling an alternative narrative of the city”. It does this by bringing to light many untold stories, via songs about the ukulele, humor, poetry and local insight. He calls this unusual approach to touring the B-Sides Ride.
B-Sides Ride celebrates Buffalo’s untold history with free bike tours, weekends in August and September.
“The B-Sides Ride is a historic tour of Buffalo – but instead of the usual chicken wings and football fare, we focus on the socially conscious and more provocative stories of people who have made an impact locally, nationally and even international — but have been largely omitted from our public memory,” said Moscato, who recently returned to Buffalo after nearly 18 years in the Pacific Northwest (Portland to be exact).
When he returned, he decided he wanted to take his two passions – bikes and local history – and combine them into organized trips.
In Portland, Moscato was the founder and former executive director of Know Your City, a nonprofit organization that runs tours, and served as a guide for Everybody’s Bike Rentals.
Mascato hopes he can get people to start thinking about Buffalo in a way they never have before. The subject of the visit may include thesocial unrest and civil rights, LGBT, and ppublic art. He cites some examples of what people can expect…
- Calumet Building (formerly the Ku Klux Klan offices in Buffalo)
- The Kaleida Health Building (site of the 1992 Operation Rescue protests)
- Martin Sostre’s Afro-Asian Bookstore (a central location during the 1967 race riots)
- Michigan Street Corridor African American History
- Niagara Street Latin History
- 1960s political activism
On Saturdays and Sundays in August and September, Moscato will host The B-sides tour. Although the tour is donation-based (pay what you want at the end of the ride), advance tickets are required at buffalobiketours.com. Moscato also hopes to work with Reddy Bikeshare to offer discounts on bike rentals. He wants visits to be accessible to everyone.
“We’re excited to build on Buffalo’s momentum,” Moscato said. “Buffalo is a great town for biking and we want to make it a place where locals and visitors alike explore downtown on bikes.”
For more information on Buffalo Bike Tours and the B-Sides Ride, please see the online FAQs at buffalobiketours.com.
Buffalo Bike Tours present Around sides B
Saturdays and Sundays in August and September
10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Meeting place :
Burning Books | 420 Connecticut Stree | RSVP needed to buffalobiketours.com
Find Buffalo Bike Tours on Facebook
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