— — An enterprising non-profit organization called Preservation Buffalo Niagara (which does what its name implies) presents tours of local building and neighborhoods. If you want a walking tour of Buffalo’s lavish mansions, a Christmastime bus tour of the more architecturally significant churches or a look at whatever is left of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, these are the people to call. They’ve lately expanded into the suburbs, including a tour of Kenmore, and that’s what I was doing on Sunday.

No, not stomping around the village while some know-it-all docent barked the noteworthy virtues of the buildings we passed and peered into; the role of the know-it-all was played by me, and I was ready with every amusing story about Kenmore I’d ever heard.

The organization’s lavish and colorful brochure points out that “Buffalo’s first suburb is known for its architecture, walkability and community pride,” and the group of about 20 was shown precisely that. We convened at the Municipal Building, an assortment of young and old (everyone prepared to walk for about two hours), a few former Kenmore residents and a few current, and two people Preservation Buffalo Niagara sent as chaperones (the last time I had a “chaperone” he was better identified as an “Army drill sergeant”).

The group loved the Municipal Building, that W.P.A. souvenir on the Village Green, and laughed in all the right places at my comments: it replaced a government building that resembled the Addams Family mansion; it was a gift of the Roosevelt Administration even though Kenmore voters voted four times, by margins of 4-1, for F.D.R.’s opponent; the activities on the adjacent village green include war memorials, Santa Claus sightings and a thriving little farmer’s market.

Onward, past Delaware Road’s art deco house and Civil War-era house, several doors apart, to the incredible Kenmore United Methodist Church. Built in the Gothic style and the tallest structure in town when it was erected, it looks ready for Cinderella’s wedding (I’ve been informed that modern brides have been known to audition churches for whatever fairytale look they seek, so that photographs and videos capture the magic of the day, and this place is perfect for it).

Twenty minutes into the tour and I’ve got ‘em stunned by our architecture.

There followed looks at our library (a Bicentennial project and too small for its mission), the middle school (formerly the high school, with a broad expanse of lawn used as a summer concert site), the Masonic Temple (of which I know nothing except that the building is for sale), the fire hall (star of an Alka-Seltzer Plus television commercial in the 1980s) and the Alterra Wynwood assisted living center (shaped like a castle, with turrets).

Turning onto Delaware Avenue, we also got to see a few too many examples of vacant commercial real estate, those storefronts awaiting tenants. Along the way, the group asked questions, lots of them, and a spirited discussion of long-gone buildings and businesses went on for blocks; a hair salon called Studio 10 is now at the location of the former Henel’s Dairy, whose milk processing plant in the back (so I’m informed) occasionally offered the neighborhood a sickly sulfuric aroma. The M&T Bank’s drive-up occupies the spot where the Deco Restaurant sold “Buffalo’s Best Cup of Coffee” for a nickel.

We went to Mang Avenue, then Eugene and Wabash Avenues, for a dose of residential tranquility. It was apparent, in the post-rain humidity, that everyone’s a gardener in Kenmore. Foliage was blooming on every lawn. We examined at an old Kenmore building technique, that of moving a house from one spot in the village to another; two houses on Mang Avenue were formerly one large farmhouse, several hundred feet away on Delaware Avenue.

They liked the “million gallon water tower,” too, on Elmwood Avenue but visible from Mang, after they learned it once had a red arrow painted on its top to direct pilots to Buffalo airport. These are historical anecdotes I think I’ve told a hundred times each, but this group apparently never heard them until now. We ended where we began, at Delaware and Delaware; they were impressed. I was exhausted.

Showing someone around your hometown is likely better, I suppose, if the hometown in question is Paris or someplace similar. Holding the attention of a visitor to Kenmore might seem like a challenge, but it was easier than I’d expected. We’ve got attractive things here, interesting things, funny things. The topic of “quality of life” never came up, but I suspect it permeated every step we took and every comment we made.

We do it again on Sunday, Aug. 22.

Ed Adamczyk is a Kenmore resident whose column appears Fridays in the Tonawanda News. Contact him at EdinKenmore@gmail.com.