BUFFALO, N.Y. — Garden Walk Buffalo is usually as a two-day walking tour in July. In order to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 celebration spanned the entire month, with a mix of virtual and in-person events. Gardeners on the East Side Garden Walk say the virtual parts of the celebration gave them a new platform to share their skills and results of their hard work.
Each day this month, Gardens Buffalo Niagara posted new videos and other content from gardeners and experts on their website and social media pages.
The most viewed video was Renata Toney's backyard garden tour on Facebook live. The communications executive at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center moved back to the East Side home that she grew up in five years ago, and has been working hard to bring the garden back to life. This would have been Renata's first time welcoming visitors as part of the East Side Garden Walk, but she said that being able to share her garden virtually still means a lot.
"I'm honored to know that people are really interested in seeing me start again and maybe the reason why it is so popular is because there are a lot of people like me who are starting anew," she told 2 On Your Side.
"There is positive stuff happening on the East Side. We want to share that with the community," said East Side Garden Walk Board Member Samantha White. "We want to get as many views of our neighborhood and our gardens as possible and we want to see people come back when we are back to in person."
Speaking of in-person, Friday is the last night to experience the open gardens as part of Garden Walk Buffalo. You can check out a guide for the event by clicking here.