Attendance doubles at Naval Park on 4th

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - It looks like the Buffalo waterfront's ship has finally come in. The long holiday weekend drew people from all over.

It is something that has been in the works since the early 90's and almost 20 years of work is finally on display down at the Buffalo waterfront.

To gauge the increase in attendance, we spoke with Colonel Patrick Cunningham, the director of the Naval and Military Park, and he said that they had more visitors this weekend then they have since 1989. He said that attendance is almost double what it would be for a typical 4th of July weekend and that everything is just coming together. Word of mouth seems to be spreading and more people are noticing what the city is trying to do.

Carole Mathews said, "I decided this before I came up here. I knew I was coming down here. I had heard about so many changes and I wanted to see them. It is such a beautiful area that Buffalo has and it's nice to see what they are making of it."

Gina Scalzeto said, "Encourages people to stay down here, spend money down here. Everybody wants to go to dinner, go shopping or whatever it is they want to do."

The colonel also said that there is still more to come. They plan to have new exhibits soon and they are meeting with the city to put in a restaurant.