When people ask us where we're from, most of the time we say Buffalo just because we are so close to the city. In addition, no one probably knows or has heard of Hamburg. However, Hamburg is a great town with great people and I'm happy that I was able to grow up there. Here are some things that stand true if you are from Hamburg, New York.
1. High school football games bring the whole school together.
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Yes, this may go for many other towns, but Friday night football games in Hamburg had an incredible attendance. They attracted students of all different social groups and brought us all together as we cheered on our team, no matter how good or bad they may have been that year.
2. You cannot go to Tops without seeing someone you know.
Hamburg is a pretty small town where everyone knows everyone. I could not tell you why, but Tops just seems to be one of those places where you inevitably run into someone you know whether you're going to buy makeup or stock up on ice cream. And then, naturally, a twenty minute conversation ensues.
3. The Wooden Playground was your childhood.
Whether you took field trips for school, went with your family or went with friends to play some basketball, the Wooden Playground was a fun place to go and was a part of everyone's childhood in some way or another. It seems to be directly in the middle of the village and I think everyone can think of some memories they had there. It'll be strange seeing it redone soon enough.
4. Tim Horton's and Edie's were the places to be after the school day ended.
As the last bell of the day rang, we'd all run to get our backpacks and make our way into the village to usually one of those two places. If you were an outsider there, you knew the school day was over when the whole entire restaurant was absolutely swarmed with students.
5. The Hamburg/Frontier rivalry will always be very real.
I don't think there is any rivalry quite like that of ours and Frontier's. It makes sporting events extremely intense but extremely exciting and I do not think that will ever change.
6. The Burgerfest is our pride and joy.
Being a little town right outside of Buffalo, it is great that our Burgerfest festival competes well with the ones downtown, such as the Taste of Buffalo and the Italian Fest. You can count on a good burger as well as other great food and great vendors. And, let us not forget the bed races.
7. If tragedy strikes, the whole community unites and comes together.
We are a community like no other. When tragedy strikes, such as a death of a parent, the whole entire town comes together, no matter how much you know the person or the family. We all care and we all look out for each other.
8. The Youth Center was a hot spot with dances on Friday nights during middle school.
We all thought we were the coolest kids as we got dropped off by our parents at the Youth Center in their minivan and entered onto the dance floor. Friday nights got crazy for us middle schoolers as we jumped up and down to The Black Eyed Peas while eating fruit snacks and chugging Gatorade.
9. The Erie County Fair is in our backyard.
People travel from all over to go to the fair during those first couple weeks of August. We don't even think twice about it because the fairgrounds are smack in the middle of Hamburg, but it's actually pretty cool that we host the fair for the whole county.
10. You always say you want to leave and get out of this place, but you know there's nowhere else you'd rather have grown up.
We all have said it. We all could not wait to get out of this little town where everybody knows everybody and move on with our lives and get a fresh start. A lot of us have, but I think a lot of us realize, however, how great Hamburg really is and how lucky we were to grow up there.
