News 2 You: Remembering Bells Bazaar, Pratt and Lambert and Sam Jam

BUFFALO, New York — 10 years ago this week:

The cannons (technically Parrot rifles) were returned after several decades of absence from Front Park near the Peace Bridge.

The pedestrian bridges were installed over the historically aligned canals at Canalside.

A Quinnipiac poll ranked Barack Obama as the worst president since World War II. If the poll were retaken today, there would be two more presidents considered for that dubious distinction than there were this week in 2014.

People flocked to Niagara Square for two days of free concerts, with crowds expected to rival those that gathered there for the Bills’ first Super Bowl rally in 1991, JFK’s visit in 1962 and the hanging of the Thayer brothers in 1825.

The series’ all-star lineup, called Sam Jam, included Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, Ani DiFranco and the Goo Goo Dolls.

Saturday went well, but on Sunday, perhaps foreshadowing a solar eclipse in about 20 years, the sky darkened, lightning flashed and a deluge broke out, sending fans scrambling for cover.

The show went on, however, proving that even the rain couldn’t stop the rockstars that week in 2004.

Preliminary hearings have begun in the OJ Simpson case, and were televised and attracted large audiences.

While entrepreneurs were selling whatever products they could produce in a hurry and make money outside the courthouse, inside the courtroom, lawyers on both sides, soon to become household names, were debating the issues of evidence.

One of the first witnesses to testify, an aspiring actor who lived in the guest house on Simpson’s Brentwood estate, has also become a celebrity du jour and is the subject of this week’s News 2 You Pop Quiz (for the answer, watch the conclusion of the video attached to this story).

Shoppers were able to experience a new type of supermarket in Western New York at the first Bells Bazaar, which opened in a former Sibley’s store on Sheridan Drive near Delaware Avenue in Tonawanda.

It was a more upscale grocery store designed to rival what Wegmans had launched and featured singing employees.

By then, Dresser Industries had sold what remained of its Depew plant, which made parts for railcars and where 1,600 Western New Yorkers once worked.

However, on Tonawanda Street, Buffalo-born Pratt and Lambert were still in business, producing paint that was shipped around the world. Its color would eventually fade as well and become part of Buffalo’s bygone industrial tradition from the days when it was all News 2 You.