Buffaloes Caught Roaming On Walden Avenue
Jessica Galasso
Nickel City News Staff
January 2000: DEPEW - To look at the front lawn of Buffalo Hardwood Floor Center, located at 3291 Walden Ave in Depew, it seems as if the plains of the mid-western United States moved into Depew, N.Y. There are 13 buffalo silhouettes strategically placed on the front lawn of this shop that measure 8-feet long and 4-feet high.
Jim Caroll, the owner of Buffalo Hardwood Floor Center said that he and his wife decided it would be a good idea to put large buffalo silhouettes outside their store, since the city is Buffalo and the company name has the name of the city in it. In the beginning Mr. Caroll was trying to create a natural lawn that did not need to be cut so that it would look like a herd of grazing buffaloes.
"I like buffaloes. I even have a chair in my house that is covered with a buffalo's hide."
Mr. Caroll also said that they have a buffalo inlaid on the floor inside the store.
A local artist made the original buffaloes out of wood. The wooden buffaloes lasted about 3 years until most of them were stolen. "People would simply break the wooden buffaloes off the stake and walk off with them, and in the morning there would be nothing left except two buffalo feet in the ground and a stake."
Since last fall, a company called New Buffalo Graphics makes the large buffaloes out of heavy rust colored steel that does not need to be painted. The buffaloes cost about $250 each and are now sunk in two feet of concrete.
"I don't think anyone will be walking off with one any time soon," said Mr. Caroll.
The buffalo silhouettes have gotten a lot of attention over the past five years. "People would actually stop and ask to trace the buffaloes in order to make their own." said Mr. Caroll.
For 5 years, as long as Buffalo Hardwood Floor Center has been open, there have been large buffalo silhouettes on the front lawn. These creative lawn decorations are decked in red bows for the Christmas season and all year round give the corner of Transit Road and Walden Avenue a little bit of Buffalo character.
