BUFFALO — The Buffalo Irish Center will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the South Branch YMCA home at 245 Abbott Road with a YMCA Reunion on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, from 4 to 7 p.m., the center announced.
Tickets will be $25 at the door and include draft beer and soda. Live music and displays of photos and historical documents from YMCA archives are planned. Food will be available for purchase from the center’s kitchen, and organizers said proceeds will support preservation and renovation of the century-old building.
The building opened as the South Branch YMCA in 1926, the Buffalo Irish Center said, and served as a YMCA until it was sold to the Irish community in October 1970. After the sale, the Irish community continued to lease space in the building back to the YMCA for about eight years, the announcement said.
Mark Schroeder and TE Caulfield are co-chairs of the reunion committee. Tim Flanagan, chairman of the Buffalo Irish Center, said: “It’s important to acknowledge the history of this building as the South Branch YMCA and its enduring legacy of providing opportunities for the youth of South Buffalo to have a place to build friendships, play sports, and learn life lessons. Today, as the home of the Buffalo Irish Center, we continue to provide the youth of our community with the opportunity to learn Irish dance, take music & language lessons, play Irish sports, and build the same friendships as the children of the YMCA did so many decades ago. Those friendships will last a lifetime and strengthen our community for years to come.”
The event is being hosted by the Gaelic American Athletic Association of Buffalo (the Buffalo Irish Center) at its home at 245 Abbott Road. Organizers said all funds raised will go toward ongoing preservation and renovation of the building.
