East Aurora NY

[Canerican]

Originally Posted by bmd69

Slightly older in age of the folks? or the homes

The people. I think we have a communication problem.

At any rate, the average age in EA is 40.1, in Buffalo it's 33.6

[cressida]

We just moved to East Aurora about a year ago! Love it here. There's a Farmer's Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays that's wonderful, and the village is great. One of my favorite things about this town is the Christmas caroling they do in early December. They close down a section of Main Street, and then the whole town shows up and sings. The whole town shows up at Hamlin Park for a 4th of July parade, picnic and surprisingly good fireworks show, too. Finding rentals is a massive pain though. We ended up renting an apartment on Kelly Drive (Hickory Hill Estates) for the summer and that was fine for the short term. This area is white white white and quite conservative, but there are a few of us liberals scattered around, and, with very few exceptions, everyone here is lovely to everyone else. You'll have a very easy time finding hiking around here - Chestnut Ridge was mentioned - that's great (go looking for "The Eternal Flame" it's cool as all heck, then go down the road to George's hot dog stand - great, great place, and they do have a few vegetarian choices), Emery Park is interesting, Hunter Creek Park is a great hidden gem, etc. Letchworth Park and Zoar Valley are both farther away (one hour+) but they're both really, really amazing places to take a day trip. As far as where to live, we bought a house in the village and just love it. We haven't done much walking this year because of all the road construction, but it'll all be worth it when they're done.

The Buffalo area has been an incredible surprise. There is so much art here, so many places to take your kids, it's been great. One thing I can't recommend highly enough: Hire a snow plow service. If you don't have to shovel snow all the time, you'll enjoy the winter so much more, and the season won't feel like it'll never end. I can't remember what month they start making maple syrup, but there'll still be snow on the ground - maybe late February? Anyway, take a trip out past Arcade and go to Moore's Pancake House. If you have kids, it's a Must-Do. You eat pancakes, take a tour of the syrup making operation and then go on a hay ride to see all the tapped trees. So cool. That area also has gazillions of windmills - they're amazing. Some day when you just feel like taking a drive in the country (will you be here for fall? This is a fantastic drive for when the leaves are pretty), go out Center Street to the end, left on Crump, right on Pratham, left on Genessee. When you get to the top of Genessee, you can see dozens of windmills off in the distance. It's my favorite drive in the whole area. Then, when you get to the bottom of Genessee, make a right on Rt. 16 and go to Earl's Drive-in for dinner or a snack - it's a heck of a place - good people watching. Then you can make a right out of Earl's and take Rt. 16 all the way back to East Aurora - no sense climbing back up Genessee for the way home - going that direction isn't quite as magnificent of a drive.

This is a great place to be a family. Every town, including Buffalo and the northtowns is an easy drive, so you'll go to museums, walk Bird Island Pier, try new restaurants, etc. But for any regular old night, it's always fun to walk to the movie theather on Main and then get ice cream on the way home. West Falls is pretty, but I really like walking to the library, the farmer's market, Blockbuster, etc, so East Aurora is definitely where I belong. Best wishes and good luck!

[jblake78728]

The downtown area is going to be really nice once all that construction is finished. The last time I was through EA (about 3 weeks ago) you could really see it all starting to come together.

[14063www]

Classic hometown. Just like Fredonia, NY. They are like twin villages, except Fredonia is in Chautauqua County, so it is cheaper. But you gotta love the 5 and 10 cent store. East Aurora is also head of Fisher-Price, the toy company, so every so often they have a big parade. I miss this town and its fire hydrants painted like little toys and people. It is a nice area, near Ochard Park, home of the Buffalo Bills.

[pinmanjd1]

Want to thank everyone for the quick replies and great information!

[Emerald Hope]

Welcome to Western New York!!!! I'm sure you will love living in East Aurora. Some of the replies have already filled in where to go walking and as I'm not someone who skis I'm no help in that area. I walk at the Knox Estate all the time and in the winter I meet a lot of families who cross country ski there. The Roycorft is a fantastic place to visit and they have a lot of activities during the year. We've lived just outside East Aurora for 34 years and it's one of my favorite places to "hang out". The people are wonderful, the countryside is fantastic and no matter what the season, you'll find something to do. You'll be close enough to the shopping malls without having them in your backyard, Western New Yorkers LOVE to eat, we have theaters, plays, Artpark, the Falls, etc. I could go on and on. When we were moving to this area from the Thousand Islands, someone told us we would hate it here. They were wrong!! This has been one of the most amazing places to live. The only drawback..... the taxes. People are moving out in droves but on the other hand, I've noticed a lot of people who moved down South in the last few years are coming back. If you can stand the winters (we love them!!!) you'll love it here. Best wishes for a smooth move and a great welcome from the people in East Aurora.

[Kathee]

Hi everyone:
I just booked a couple of nights at the Hampton hotel in East Auroa, for my 87 yr old Mom & I. We have always stayed in the Amhurst area, but were unable to get a booking for next week. Since we come down basically to shop. I was wondering how the shopping is in the area example McKinley Mall. Is it a long drive to the Galleria Mall area?
Any thoughts.

Kathee

[Emerald Hope]

Kathee, the McKinley Mall is about the same distance (the opposite direction) as the Galleria Mall. There are more stores at the Galleria. The McKinley Mall is a lot smaller but still a nice place to shop. Some of the major stores are across the street from the McKinley Mall so you'd have to drive over to that area. Wow, your mom's 87!!! That's fantastic! Does she have a problem getting around the Galleria Mall? It's a lot of area to cover. Hope you have a wonderful time while you're here. A heads up on the construction in East Aurora; they've been working on the main street for a long time now and it's a little hairy getting around. Just take it slow and you'll be fine. The side roads are OK.

[Kathee]

Mom is wheelchair bound, so has no problem so long as I push lol..

[aufox]

All my family lives in East Aurora, so I pretty much grew up there, and it is a very cute little town. Lots of stuff to do, good neighbors...fantastic used bookstore called The Bookworm, if you're into that kind of thing. But yeah...it's definitely a great place to raise a family.