Too often, people in Western New York only hear about the Falls in stories that involve tourism or the police blotter. That's why it probably comes as a surprise to many that there is actually some culture north of Grand Island. Yes, there are cultural outlets in Niagara Falls. First of all, there is an extensive and beautiful park system that includes the falls themselves, the upper Niagara River, and the Niagara River gorge below. There are nature trails for hiking and a project to restore native plantings and wildlife. This provides opportunities for bird watching, observing butterflies, and learning about Western New York flora. Niagara Falls residents are taking advantage of the relatively new Niagara Falls Culinary Institute http://www.nfculinary.org/ where there are private cooking lessons and wine tasting classes being offered at very reasonable prices ($55 per person with a minimum of 6 people in a group). The upscale restaurant at the Institute, Savor, is also top notch offering lunch and dinner prepared by culinary arts students. Brilliant! Not far from there, you'll find the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center (NACC) http://www.thenacc.org/ which is a successful reuse project of the former Niagara Falls High School building. (An interesting side note is that Niagara Falls has a beautiful newish, about 12 years old, facility for high school students, which includes perhaps the best public school athletic fields in WNY.) NACC is a facility that rents artist space to creative people of all types and hosts open gallery events. Fantastic. If looking at art (instead of making it) is more your thing, it's not far to the Castellani Art Museum http://www.castellaniartmuseum.org/ on the Niagara University Campus. It features a collection with an emphasis on local artists but also includes many of the masters with recognizable names, Warhol being among my favorites you can find at the Castellani. The restaurants are plentiful enough to justify a thread of their own, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention Third Street. Possibly the best Indian food in WNY is at Zaika, less than a block down Third Street from The Bistro (locally famous for brick oven pizza), Wine on Third (a lively wine bar that often features live lounge music), and 24 Below Gallery and Café. If you haven't visited the City of Niagara Falls in a while, you owe it to yourself to check out some of these cultural treasures. I found this article online that gives a lot more information about the progress being made, including new hotels and attractions: http://www.risecollaborative.com/unc...-falls-rising/