Buffalo State Community Involved in the First Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival

Minoru Saito, a senior in the hospitality administration program, is pleased to be the student manager for a special event to be held at Campus House on Monday, April 28.

Saito, an international student from Tokyo, is helping Campus House staff present a celebrity chef demonstration and sake-tasting event at Campus House. Proceeds will benefit the Japanese Garden in Delaware Park and the Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival, which is taking place for the first time this year, beginning on April 23 and ending May 4.

“We will have two weeks of activities,” said Trudy Stern, a nurse practitioner at Weigel Health Center at Buffalo State and chair of the steering committee for the fledgling festival. Stern, who once owned a little tea house on Lexington Avenue, is a long-time volunteer who has worked to maintain the Japanese gardens behind the Buffalo History Museum. The garden, which was begun in 1970, represents the friendship between Buffalo and its sister city, Kanazawa, Japan.

The activities range from a high-end Cherry Blossom Ball to free, family-friendly events, including entertainment in the Japanese garden. Events within the Buffalo History Museum are free with admission to the museum.

Francis R. Kowsky, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts and author of The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System, presented a talk on April 16 at the museum.

“There are so many Buffalo State connections to this event,” said Kathleen O’Brien, Campus House director. “We are delighted to be part of it. It’s an honor to host a celebrity chef event featuring Mike Andrzejewski, chef and owner of the Sea Bar and Mike A’s at the Hotel Lafayette. And we’re especially pleased that Rob Kohout, who graduated from the hospitality administration program in 2009, will be here to lead a discussion about the rice wines of Japan.”