Ticket costs for each tour vary and may include lunch, tastings, and transportation. All tours will depart from the Buffalo Conference Center. Tickets for each tour can be purchased during conference registration. Already registered for conference? You can go back and add a tour to your registration!
Wednesday, July 10
Pre-Conference Tour
Please note, the descriptions, locations, and times listed below are subject to change. Please continue to check back for the most up-to-date information.
A Niagara Tour with a Pairing of Local Food and Wine
Date: Wednesday, July 10
Time: ~8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Cost: $125.00
Tour locations to include:
- Ordinary Farmstead – Featuring Oakfield Corners and Eden Valley Farms
- Leonard Oakes Winery and Cidery
- Niagara Falls
Explore the surrounding Buffalo area! The tour will begin at Ordinary Farmstead, a pastured goat and chicken farm in East Aurora, NY with a mission to land stewardship and animal husbandry. Founded in 2011 and raising dairy goats, owners Paula Tofil and Brian Pusch will give a tour of their farmstead, and they will be joined by Marissa DePerno, who cares for the goat herd, and Rachel Banks, the cheesemaker. Attendees will sample some extra-ordinary dairy products while learning about their sustainable dairy practices. “We believe the animals come first and this simple, ordinary step is one of many on the way to producing the extraordinary: the milk we harvest is “extra” beyond what is needed for the kid goats. It is extraordinary to us in so many ways.” Emily Smith from Eden Valley Creamery and Molly Moffett from Oakfield Corners will be at Ordinary Farmstead to sample and talk about their products as well.
Oakfield Corners is a 12th-generation dairy that has been working to make improvements to the genetics of their herd and recently won the Northeast Dairy Innovation competition, with guidance from Cornell’s food and business connoisseurs are looking forward to launching their newest venture into artisanal Mexican cheese. Eden Valley Farms is a multi-generational dairy that was established in 1949 as a vegetable farm and dairy. They have since grown to include three dairy operations and produce over 20 different varieties of cheese. The creamery began in 2019 with the goal to produce high-quality organic certified cheeses with a focus on regional western New York and Buffalo food culture and flavors.
Then we will drive to Leonard Oakes Winery & Cidery for a tour and tasting with Jonathan Oakes. Join us for a one-of-a-kind taste of NY cider terroir at Steampunk Cidery. Your host, NY Cider Association President Jonathan Oakes, will conduct an immersive tasting of orchard-based NY ciders. He will discuss the cider-producing regions of NY, our multitude of varieties, and the uniqueness of our cider expression. Accompanying him will be the Executive Director of the NY Cider Association to give an overview of the exciting work the association is doing to present NY Cider to the world.
Lunch will be served at Leonard Oakes before traveling to Niagara Falls! At Niagara, we will have tickets for the observation tower, before rejoining the group at 4 pm to drive back to the Convention Center.
Don’t fret! In case you were worried there wouldn’t be enough cheese. In between stops on the tour, we will be joined on the bus for a traveling tasting and conversation with Old Chatham Creamery and Nettle Meadow.
*The bus for this tour will pick up and drop off from the Buffalo Convention Center.
Saturday, July 13
Post-Conference Tour
Please note, the descriptions, locations, and times listed below are subject to change. Please continue to check back for the most up-to-date information.
Get to Know Buffalo from the Water
Date: Saturday, July 13
Time: ~3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Cost: $85.00
Unwind after a busy and exciting conference on a Buffalo Harbor Boat Tour! Learn about the past, present, and future aboard a sightseeing cruise, beginning on the Buffalo River across from the original lighthouse built in 1833 and continuing on through Lake Erie and the Black Rock Canal. Learn about the history of the Peace Bridge, and pass by one of the oldest yacht clubs in the country. This relaxing boat tour will be accompanied with an on-boat local tasting from Lively Run Dairy with cider pairings provided by Occam Cider & The Cider Project. Occam Cider & The Cider Project, two new and small batch WNY cideries will be pouring cider, paired with FLX Lively Run Dairy cheeses.
Ryan Burke is a renowned NY cider maker presenting his new cider project, Occam Cider.
Katie Campos is a local cider maker based in Buffalo who makes dry, funky English-style cider. Katie and her wife, Erin started The Cider Project to find the best cider apples in WNY – real spitters – found in historically uncultivated and sometimes abandoned orchards and on the side of the road. They make cider with minimal intervention, blending the best cider apples and letting the cider come to life in wine barrels without the addition of yeast or additives. Katie trained with Eve’s Cidery in Ithaca, NY, and ANXO Cidery in Washington, D.C. Katie also manages the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy, which is a park the group will see during the Buffalo Boat Tour at the end of the conference!
Transportation to this tour is on your own, it is about a 20-minute walk to the dock or a 5-minute Uber or Lyft.
