The Broadway Market

Broadway 3 Shopping at the Broadway Market is a tradition in many Buffalo households, especially around Easter time.  According to the Broadway Market website, it is actually over 120 years old.  It was started by a group of citizens on a city donated parcel at 999 Broadway in 1888.  As immigrants flocked to the east side of Buffalo in the late 1800′s, they looked for the continuation of old world customs in their new and unfamiliar environment.  Today, the Broadway Market has grown to 90,000-square feet of retailing and proudly shows off Buffalo's rich Polish heritage.

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Growing up, I never went to the Broadway Market, even at Easter time.  I think this is partially due to the fact that we are not Polish, and my grandmother preferred to go to Canada to get her Easter sausage (which my mother and I still do to this day).  But when I started dating my now-husband, he introduced me to the market for the first time.  His family is Polish, so they were no strangers to fighting the crowds for pierogis and sausage sticks and butter lambs on the weeks leading up to Easter.

Butter lambs are super serious, you guys.  They were actually born in Buffalo at the Broadway Market!

butter lamb

Source

Now that we are married, it has become an annual tradition to get both of our parents together and head up to the Broadway Market to buy all of the fixins' for Easter dinner.  We snapped a quick group picture before our shopping extravaganza.

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My parents on my right, my in-laws on my left, not pictured is my hubs who was the photographer.

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The main goal of our trip each year is to pick up a variety of sausage and sweets for Easter.  This trip I did treat myself to some chocolate covered strawberries from Strawberry Island and some cookies and cream gelato from Sweet Jenny's Ice Cream.  Both were delicious, of course.

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They also have live music and lot of delicious food to snack on while you shop.  Also, I was able to pick up my Dyngus Day t-shirt...oh we will talk about Dyngus Day and the infamous Anderson Cooper giggling incident next week.  All-in-all it was another successful trip to the market!