BUFFALO, N.Y. — For our Most Buffalo Story of the Day, 2 On Your Side is taking you on a field trip to the new West Side Bazaar.
It's closed on Mondays, but we got to go to talk with the Executive Director about this year's WEDIFest.
"We're having WEDIfest on April 19. It's our annual fundraiser. It's here at the Bazaar from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. It is a great event. It's probably the only fundraiser in Buffalo where you can come and try food from around the world," said Carolynn Welch, Executive Director of WEDI.
As the Executive Director of WEDI, Carolynn Welch is busy getting ready for WEDIfest at the West Side Bazaar.
"We have a basket auction with over forty baskets that are all unique things from all around our community. We have a couple of really cool silent auction items, so you know, I will just say there's some travel involved if everybody's interested in that. And then I think the biggest part of it is just trying all of the food. I think twelve of our restaurants are participating, so you can try everything from Burmese to Ethiopian to, you know, whatever else is going to be on the books that day," said Carolynn Welch.
The West Side Bazaar on Niagara Street boasts several restaurants, plus a bookstore that focuses on food-related books, Licensed Mental Health Counselors have an office there, and there's community space.
Graduates of the small business incubator have gone on to open their own shops and are thriving in our community.
This is WEDI's biggest fundraising event of the year, so Welch says this helps support WEDI's programs in a big way and those programs go beyond the Downtown and West Side Bazaars.
"We're also a CDFI, so that's a Community Development Financial Institution. We do small business lending for businesses around our community who don't qualify for bank loans, so when you walk around our community, we touch over three hundred businesses a year through technical support or funding, so it does a lot for our Buffalo ecosystem. In addition to that, we have education programs for English language learners, after school and over the summer and, you know, our kids have a ton of fun and it's a great way to introduce, you know, the newcomers to our region to Buffalo and what activities are there for their family and support their educational growth, so we have some really great programs running behind the scenes," said Carolynn Welch.
"I would say, get your ticket quick. We sold out last year. I had people calling me the day of the event saying, I can't get a ticket, so if you're interested in coming, I would say get your ticket now to make sure you're one of the lucky people here that night," Carolynn Welch.
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