Chocolate catapults Easter in Buffalo to #7 in Nation

Wallethub is at it again. Buffalo is listed as the seventh best place to celebrate Easter in 2016’s Best & Worst Cities for Easter Celebrations. But it wasn't butter lambs, chrusciki or pierogi that thrust it to the top of the hunt for Easter gems, but Buffalo's proliferation of candy stores and chocolate shops.

"WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities based on 13 metrics that speak to an ideal Easter celebration. Our metrics range from “average price of eggs” to “number of egg-hunt events per capita” to “percentage of Christian population.” 

I like sponge candy and Parksides as much as anyone, and the the egg hunt at the Botanical Gardens is legendary, but really? What kind of metrics are these?

We appreciate the accolades, Wallethub, but frankly you're asking all the wrong questions. 

Easter in Buffalo differs a bit from celebrations in other cities because of the delightful contributions of our Polish community.

Some Buffalo Easter traditions like pierogi, chrusciki and golompke actually come from Poland. Others, like butter lambs and the One Night and Seven Churches walk by Broadway Fillmore Alive, developed right here in America. The Broadway Market - not a candy shop - inspires annual pilgrimages by entire families. 

Add to all this Dyngus Day with its pussy willows, squirt guns, parades and partying on the Monday after Easter Sunday, and you have a city that knows how to celebrate Easter with more than just chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.