Do Buffalos Really Have Wings? Quiz

Answer: The Buffalo Bills

In the 1990s, the Bills made it to (but lost) four Superbowls...but there's always next year (and the next)!

The Bulls play college football for the University at Buffalo; the Buffalo Bandits play indoor lacrosse; the Buffalo Bisons are the farm team for the Mets (baseball).

Buffalo, New York is a town for serious sports fans! It's a toss-up whether locals are more passionate about the Bills or the Sabers (ice hockey).

Answer: Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is just twelve miles up the Niagara River from Buffalo. The Niagara River connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and is the border between the US and Canada. Niagara Falls is known as "the honeymoon capital of the world".

Answer: All of these

Buffalo has an amazing architectural history! Among the many treasures are Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House, Louis Sullivan's Guarantee Building, and H.H. Richardson's Buffalo Psychiatric Hospital complex.

Answer: Beef on Weck

Beef on Weck is a roast beef sandwich on a kummelweck roll--carraway seeds and kosher salt distinguish this roll from a kaiser. The sandwich is usually served with horseradish and it's Western New York's other signature dish.

Shoo-fly pie is a Pennsylvania specialty and is delightfully sweet. The muskellunge is a fish that is native to the region, but I've never seen a fritter made with it.

Tacos with cream corn is a mistake I made once.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated in Buffalo in 1901, after President William McKinley was assassinated while attending the Pan American Exposition. Mr. Roosevelt was on vacation when he got the news and rushed to Buffalo without any formal clothes for the occasion. The site of his inauguration later became a museum.

Answer: All of these

The name Queen City dates from the glory days when Buffalo was the gateway for westward expansion and the terminus of the Erie Canal. City of No Illusions dates from the dark days of the 1970s when the steel plants closed down and the regional economy nose-dived. Iron Island refers to Buffalo's history as a rail transportation hub, when the city was an island surrounded by iron rails.

Other names for Buffalo include "Flour City" and "City of Light".

Answer: The Peace Bridge

Opened in 1927, the Peace Bridge commemorates 100 years of peace between Canada and the US. The Rainbow Bridge connects Niagara Falls, New York with Niagara Falls, Ontario; the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge connects Lewiston, New York with (wait for it) Queenston, Ontario. Lastly, the Whirlpool bridge is primarily a railroad bridge that crosses the Niagara gorge down river from the Falls.

Answer: The Ice Boom

The installation and removal of the ice boom each year is of great local interest. The process is governed by international treaty and requires precise combinations of date, water temperature, and square miles of open water. Occasionally, after a big storm with high winds and waves, a section will disconnect from its anchor. Frogmen are dispatched to reconnect it--not a pleasant job!

Answer: The intensification of bad weather due to the proximity to Lake Erie

Lake effect snow bands cause some truly memorable accumulations of snow in Buffalo, because the storms pick up moisture from Lake Erie (warmer) and then drop it over land (colder). That's why local weather reports always mention lake temperature in the winter--once it's close to freezing, it stops being a weather-maker.

Answer: Grain Elevators

Grain elevators were invented in Buffalo in 1842, and automated the process of getting grain from the hull of a ship into a storage silo. Buffalo has the largest collection in the world. Buffalo used to be a grain-milling center, so these massive silos would store the grain that was shipped across the Great Lakes from the Midwest.

While most of the elevators have become unused, they are on the National Register of Historic Places and are a distinguishing feature of the Buffalo waterfront.