The ceremonial Ice Boom Ball Drop from the fireboat E.M. Cotter.

With the dropping of the
"Boom Days" ball,
Spring may now officially begin.

Buffalo, NY - The Fourth Annual "Boom Days" once again marked the official start of spring in Western New York's and Southern Ontario in grand style at the Chief Petty Officers Club (CPO Club).

True to tradition, cannons fired from Old Fort Niagara and Old Fort Erie, and the ceremonial Ice Boom Ball was dropped from the fireboat E.M. Cotter. Families enjoyed live music from Buffalo's Rocket 88, readings by the winners of the annual Just Buffalo Poetry Contest, a fireworks display, and a great party until midnight. There was also dozens of displays which allowed people to roam about and inquire about waterfront activies, waterfront groups, and personal volunteer involvement.

"Boom Days" is the region's grass roots celebration of the advent of spring, commencing each year with the lifting of the Lake Erie-Niagara River ice boom. "Boom Days" also commemorates the Niagara region's bustling waterways of days gone by, glorifies our natural, artistic and cultural wealth, and thanks our strong winter.