BUFFALO, N.Y. — Get your red shirts, polish food and pussy willows ready because Dyngus Day is Monday.
Thousands of people will file into the Buffalo Central Terminal for their annual Dyngus Day Party.
"Everybody that walks in there just looks up and immediately their jaws drop," said John Jiloty of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation.
The party will bring in money for the group's massive restoration project but they hope it will also garner some community interest and support.
"Dyngus day is our biggest event of the year and probably the one we are most known for and it brings the biggest group of people into the building," said Jiloty.
"Anytime you can get a couple thousand people in there, having fun enjoying the building enjoying the architecture in kind of a social setting it does pick people up and in terms of saying oh maybe I can help these guys out maybe I want to volunteer. We are always looking for volunteers."
The group says they are working to turn the structure into a community event destination. The project received a five million dollar Empire State Development grant last year.
The group will be using that funding to restore the main concourse of the building and to add heat. The heat will allow them to host events in the winter.
"Our event season is really catered to the weather and in the winter time we don't have any events but if we have heat in that restaurant space it will allow us to do a lot more on the event side which has really been our goal for the year," said Jiloty.
Jiloty told 2 On Your Side that the group will be hiring a local architecture firm to handle the restoration of the main concourse this month. With the hopes of construction beginning in the fall.
The group is also keeping an eye on the long term plan to turn the property into a mixed-use building.
"We've seen some great ideas and we're still in that idea phase and working on finding that partner but most of what we've seen is a multi-use in terms of hotel space, maybe events or convention center, larger space," he said.