Feb 26, 2023
BATAVIA — Groups made their way along Main Street and elsewhere in the downtown Saturday evening, trying to visit as many stops as they could to make the FeBREWary Beer Walk a complete experience.
At Major Stash Cigar, 60 Liberty St., Heather Tower of Attica and Ann Marie Franz of Corfu were leaving after making their fourth stop on the walk. They said they’d also been to T-Shirts Etc., Inc., 37 Center St.; TF Brown’s, 214 E. Main St.; and O’Lacy’s Irish Pub, 5 School St.
Franz said this was their second year of being on the walk. Their favorite part has been trying the different beers.
“I like sours, so TF Brown’s had sour, so I liked that,” said Tower.
Franz said she liked the Irish ale at O’Lacy’s.
At about 10 minutes after 6 o’clock, there were plenty of places left for them to visit before the event was through.
“We’re on a voyage. Got to follow our map,” they said. The next stop on the map, for them, was the EDEN Cafe & Bakeshop, 242 Ellicott St.
“We have some other friends that are with us. They started a little bit later, so we’re kind of playing catch-up,” Franz said.
Tower said, “It’s just hanging out with our friends — something to do in the winter, for sure.”
At the Tonawanda Valley Federal Credit Union, 10 Jefferson Ave., Martin Stevens, Miah Stevens, Olivia Arnett and Isaiah Stevens were hanging out in the VIP area.
“We’ve been to quite a few places. We started with TF Brown’s,” Martin Stevens said. “We have quite a few stops to go.
“Different selections — they’ve been good for the most part,’ he said.
Asked about their favorite places along the walk, Miah Stevens said her favorite was anywhere the cider was.
“I think about three or four of the places have had cider,” she said.
Arnett said EDEN Cafe was her favorite so far.
“I liked quite a few of them. T-Shirts Etc. was a nice experience, to see how they did their shirts and stuff,” Martin Stevens said. “They demonstrated how they make their shirts.”
White at Tonawanda Valley, they said they were going to visit the rest of the stops on Main Street.
“We’ve got a pattern where we hit all of them in the same area so we don’t have to jump back and forth,” Martin Stevens said.
Miah Stevens said, “We don’t really have a favorite place. It’s more just going in the places we’ve never been in before that’s nice.”
BID Executive Director Shannon Maute said the Tonawanda Valley Credit Union, which was hosting music and had a special area for those with VIP tickets, was pretty packed Saturday. People were also out and about, following the map and going from place to place. David Knaudt Music performed at Tonawanda Valley and Him N Me at Major Stash.
“I want to acknowledge that Batavia did an amazing job at making sure all the sidewalks were clear, all the crosswalks,” she said. “Our city is amazing and (is) trying to get people downtown and making sure that everyone is safe and having a good time. The 22 stops are doing great ...”
