BUFFALO, N.Y. — 10 years ago this week:
The cannons (technically Parrot rifles) were returned after several decades absence from Front Park near the Peace Bridge.
The pedestrian bridges were being installed over the historically aligned canals at Canalside.
A Quinnipiac poll ranked Barrack Obama as the worst president since World War II. Were the poll were be taken again today, however, there would be two more presidents to be considered for that dubious distinction than there were this week in 2014.
20 years ago this week:
Folks flocked to Niagara Square for two days of free concerts with crowds expected to rival those which assembled there for the Bills first Superbowl rally in 1991, the JFK visit in 1962, and the hanging of the Thayer brothers in 1825.
The all-star lineup for the show, called Sam Jam, included Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, Ani DiFranco and the Goo Goo Dolls.
Saturday was fine but then on Sunday, in perhaps some foreshadowing to a solar eclipse some twenty years in the future, the skies darkened, lightning flashed, and a deluge erupted sending fans to scurry for cover.
The show went on, however, proving even rain couldn't stop rockstars this week in 2004.
30 years ago this week:
Preliminary hearings began in the case of OJ Simpson which were televised gavel to gavel and attracted huge audiences.
As entrepreneurs hawked whatever wares they could hastily produce and turn for a buck outside the courthouse, inside the courtroom lawyers on both sides who would soon become household names argued evidentiary matters.
One of the first witnesses to testify, an aspiring actor who lived int he guesthouse of Simpson's Brentwood estate, also became a celeb du jour and is the subject of this week's News 2 You Pop Quiz (for the answer, watch the conclusion of the video attached to this story).
40 years ago this week:
Shoppers were experiencing a new type of supermarket in Western New York at the first Bells Bazaar which had opened inside a former Sibley's store on Sheridan Drive near Delaware Avenue in Tonawanda.
It was a more upscale grocery designed to compete with what Wegmans pioneered and featured singing employees.
By then Dresser Industries had sold off what remained of its plant in Depew which made parts for rail cars and where 1600 Western New Yorkers once worked.
However, over on Tonawanda Street, Buffalo born Pratt and Lambert was still going strong, producing paint being shipped around the world. Its color would eventually fade as well, and become part of the past industrial lore of Buffalo from back in the days when it was all News 2 You.
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