NORTH TONAWANDA — The Lumber City is gearing up for a weekend event designed to show off all the best in local art, food, music and dance.
Local officials and business owners announced plans Wednesday for World Wide Webster, a showcase of local food and drinks, that will take on Sunday on Webster Street during the city’s second annual Carnegie Art Spree.
An internationally-themed event, World Wide Webster will offer visitors the chance to sample food items from nine Webster Street restaurants as part of an exclusive $5 tasting menus focused on foods representing various cultures. Specialty cocktails will also be available courtesy of Hartman’s Distillery. Local merchants will also be offering special one-day-only sales during the event.
“Webster Street in North Tonawanda is really alive with excitement and one of the most fun places to be in all of Western New York,” said Mayor Austin Tylec. “This event, which showcases all the tremendous dining, arts, culture, entertainment and shopping, is sure to be a summertime destination favorite for years to come.”
Tylec said the city, together with the Merchants Association of North Tonawanda, created World Wide Webster to promote Lumber City businesses while also supporting the Carnegie Arts Center, a Goundry Street arts organization that held its first annual Carnegie Arts Spree event last year.
Tylec said the idea to coordinate both events grew out of a conversation he had with Kristin Derby, board president of Carnegie Arts Spree.
“I said why not close down Webster Street and have an art festival and bring people into the city and it went well last year and we continue to grow,” Tylec said. “This is what we’ve been doing with a lot of events. It’s not just one organization or business. We try to come up with as many things as we can.”
As part of this year’s event, Webster Street will come alive with performances by the Suzuki Strings as well as eight local dance companies, including: Amor and Heritage; James Levy/TEIN; Scottish dance; Buffalo Bhangra; Oasis Dance Center; the African American Cultural Center and Donegan Dance Exploration. There will also be dance demonstrations for children featuring Hispanic and creative dance.
World Wide Webster attendees will be able to pick up “passports” during the event which can be completed by visiting participating stores and restaurants. The first 100 completed passport entries will earn a “Don’t Sleep on NT” T-shirt and all completed passports will be entered into a drawing for a grand prize, a Webster Street Experience Package that includes gift certificates for area business and exclusive items from local merchants.
“We want people to stop everywhere so the passport will have a listing of all the participating merchants and they’ll stop at the different merchants, buy a $5 tasting, get a sticker or a checkmark of some sort that shows that they stopped and then, at the end, if they turn their completed passport in, they have an opportunity to win the Webster Street Experience Package,” said event co-chair and Rachel DeDomenico. “It is a very generous package.”
World Wide Webster, in collaboration with the city’s second annual Carnegie Art Spree, will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday on Webster Street.
The full list of participating restaurants includes: Canal Club 62, Coffee & Stone, District 37, Dwyer’s Irish Pub, El Punto, Frankie Primo’s +39, Forno e Gelato and Webster’s Bistro. Participating merchants include: Aster & Lilies, Avalon Exotics, Black Label Tattoo Club & Piercing, Canalside Wine & Spirits, Gleam & Glimmer, Satisfied Mind, Spiritually Rooted and You Grow Girl.
The event is sponsored by Niagara County, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Hartman’s Distillery, Frankie Primo’s +39 and Figmore Cafe & Eatery.