What’s in a name?
Companies and nonprofits invest a lot into building an identity, so it’s a big deal when they announce a name change.
Recently, local NPR radio station WBFO-FM rebranded as BTPM, or Buffalo Toronto Public Media. And Visit Buffalo Niagara made its latest in a series of name changes.
The former Greater Buffalo Convention & Visitors Bureau, which became the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau, which later became Visit Buffalo Niagara, is now just Visit Buffalo. (What’s next: “Visit?”)
On Tuesday, the Buffalo Audubon Society gave us something to chew on when the nonprofit revealed it was renaming its Beaver Meadow Nature Center as the Trillium Nature Center.
The society said the rebranding will be accompanied by physical improvements to the center in North Java, Wyoming County, and is meant “to better reflect our expanded mission of conservation, education, and the diverse ecosystems we protect – from meadows to old growth forests.”
Some responded positively to the group’s Facebook announcement, but the change didn’t go over well with everyone.
“Why couldn’t the Audubon do all of that and leave the name alone? I don’t see any real need for rebranding,” wrote one Facebook commenter. ” ‘Trillium’ seems vague and not rooted or tied to anything, but there has been a beaver dam or at least the vestiges of one on the property for quite some time.”
The society clarified that only the building was changing, while the surrounding property would remain Beaver Meadow Nature Preserve.
And, for those who were wondering, a trillium is a plant native to the region that symbolizes rebirth.
How fitting with hockey season just around the corner.
− Stephen T. Watson
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Ready for a makeover
Frank, the human-size hot dog sculpture that historically stood outside of Rudy’s Diner in Medina, has been needing a little love.
His body, which should be hot dog-colored, has faded to a rusty shade of mud. His bun, which should be bread-colored, has rubbed down to white. The ketchup and mustard he double-fists look like they’re coated in clay.
Frank has been too un-hot-dog-like for public view for a while. He’s spent the last few years in storage. But that changes soon, as Frank heads to Orleans/Niagara BOCES for students to spruce him up and release him back to the public eye, according to Tom Rivers of Orleans County Tourism.
Rivers wrote on social media that Orly the Ox, the mascot for Orleans County, was looking forward to “Frank getting his groove back.” The two mascots posed for a photo. One of them looked like a cow. The other looked like Pinto Ron.
– Francesca Bond
Calling it in
The call couldn’t have come at a better time.
Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick joined five county legislators in the office of Legislature Chairman Tim Meyers for a news conference Thursday. They were there to announce a letter Democratic legislators signed asking that Gov. Hochul push the state attorney general to investigate the case of D.J. Granville, the Sheriff’s Office narcotics chief who crashed his county vehicle into seven parked cars last year.
When journalists expressed skepticism that state officials would take any action when so many other similar requests have gone nowhere, Hardwick began going on about why there’s no reason the governor and attorney general wouldn’t want to investigate the matter.
“There is such a cloud of suspicion surrounding both the office of the sheriff and the Buffalo Police Department, I would think that everybody, especially members of those law enforcement agencies, want this to be cleared up as soon as possible,” he said. “It’s been dragged out now for six months since we found out about it, and 11 months previously, when the cover-up started at the scene. I’m hopeful that the governor and the attorney general will respond to this latest request.”
As he was finishing up that last sentence, the phone Meyers had left of on his desk started ringing, interrupting Hardwick’s remarks as a staffer hurried to silence Meyers’ phone.
Hardwick said, “That’s them right now.”
– Sandra Tan
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Stephen T. Watson
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Francesca Bond
Food & drink reporter
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