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Apparently, an outdoor ice rink that opened in the summer was enough of an oddity for the New York Times to send someone to the region to investigate.
The Times recently ran a piece on synthetic ice surfaces that focused around Snow Park Niagara Falls, the new year-round attraction that opened last month near the Rainbow Bridge and that features a rink of fake ice and tubing on fake snow.
While the local outdoor rink received mixed reviews in terms of surface quality, the article cited the Falls rink as the latest effort to offer year-round ice availability. Several synthetic ice makers who were interviewed agreed that the technology is still being developed that would truly replicate natural ice, but that they’re not too far off now.
While there are deterrents to artificial ice — frequent wearing of skate blades, for example —Snow Park Niagara Falls offers free skate sharpening, spokeswoman Jennifer Pauly said. The local rink’s quality should also improve as time goes on, she said.
“You really need a large amount of people on there to get the oils worked around,” she told the paper in referring to the oils that are used in manufacturing synthetic ice. “It’s not ice, obviously.”
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An Internet report on the state of the U.S. beer business mentioned Western New York’s favorite beer and its symbiotic relationship with the region.
The report on tmrzoo.com mentioned Labatt as the nation’s No. 9-selling beer. The report cited the sale of Labatt USA to a private equity firm last winter as a potential indicator of the company’s relocation out of Buffalo. Company executives, however, were adamant that the beermaker’s U.S. headquarters will stay here.
“Buffalo is absolutely critical to Labatt’s future in the United States,” said Richard Lozyniak, CEO of North American Breweries, the affiliate that owns Labatt USA.
Lozyniak cited the 20 Buffalo employees and 16 additional hires soon to be made in affirming the company’s commitment to the region.
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If an autochannel.com report is correct, the region has had a decidedly maize and blue hue this weekend.
The Web site ran a report from the AAA of Michigan, which said some 1 million people from that state were to travel over the July 4 weekend. For those 1 million people, Niagara Falls was listed as the No. 2 destination, trailing only Chicago.
Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116.
