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Tour de Neglect

If you’re looking for all the scandal of the Tour de France without the spandex and champagne sipping, then Saturday’s Tour de Neglect is just the thing for you. The Tour comprises a winding 8-mile loop through Buffalo’s East Side with the express purpose of seeing, and learning the stories of, the crumbling, neglected grand old buildings there. A short list of sites that the tour will visit includes Central Terminal, Transfiguration Church, the German Roman Catholic Orphan Home (pictured), Simon Brewery and Sacred Heart. Activist David Torke leads the tour at a leisurely pace, covering the entire circuit in approximately three and a half hours. This bike tour is pure Buffalo, and while it highlights neglect and decay in the city’s once-great neighborhoods, Torke’s narrative is one of “opportunity and hope.” No pre-registration is required for the tour. Just be at Delta Sonic’s Sonic Café at noon with your bike, a lunch, plenty of water and a helmet. If you miss this Saturday’s Tour, there will be one more chance to go this year on Sunday, September 9. The neglect of so many architectural treasures in Buffalo’s “Forgotten City” can only be described as criminal. This tour is a must-see, and should come with a warning label: “May inspire feelings of civic duty and moral outrage.”

Saturday, August 18, Noon-3pm. Sonic Café, 1264 Main Street. $10 donation (contact 852-3300 or www.buffalotours.org)