By: Howard Owens, The Batavian
The Oatka Festival in Le Roy yesterday may have been the place for all the fun, but the former Creekside Inn -- soon to be the Creekside Tavern & Inn -- was where you heard all the buzz.
The site of many grand times, and no small bit of history, was jammed with people looking over what Bill Farmer and his son are doing to the rustic stone building set against the falls of Oatka Creek.
Farmer is a man passionate about restoration, having put a whole career into working on some of the landmark restoration projects in Rochester. The Creekside project was supposed to be a hobby project, but has become Farmer's full-time avocation.
For those who think entrepreneurs won't invest in Genesee County, Farmer will have sunk more than $1 million into the project by the time the restaurant and tavern opens next spring.
I spent at least 30 minutes just chatting with Farmer. He's passionate about the project and believes it will become a destination point, drawing diners and beer lovers from Buffalo and Rochester to a village that has seen better days. Farmer believes, and I think he's right, the Creekside restoration could spark interest from other developers in the village, which he thinks is one of the great undiscovered villages in WNY.
The Village of Le Roy is well located, with some great older buildings and plenty of local history to be a draw for shoppers and diners from all over the region. It's great to see an entrepreneur like Farmer take such a huge step to help save one great building and hopefully spark a new economic era for Le Roy.