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Where are the Empire Bears located?

While our members hail from near and far, the Empire Bears as an organization is based in Rochester, New York. For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the geography of North America in general or the state of New York in particular, here are a few fun facts about our fair city and its surrounding region.

  • Many people see "Empire Bears" and immediately think of the "Empire State Building" which is in the City of New York. In fact, the whole of New York is known as the "Empire State" and this is the source of our club's name.
  • Rochester is located 6 to 8 hours' drive from the City of New York, depending on your route and how fast you go; or approximately one hour flight time on a commercial airline.
  • We're also approximately one hour away from Buffalo, New York, home of the Buffalo Bills (at this writing the only NFL team that plays its home games in the State of New York) and our brother club the Buffalo Bears; and also about the same distance from the Canadian border at Niagara Falls or Lewiston/Queenston.
  • The closest major city (of over one million inhabitants) to Rochester is not the City of New York, but Toronto, Ontario in Canada. It's only 3 to 5 hours' drive to Toronto, and the upcoming fast ferry promises to cut this travel time to about two and a quarter hours (not counting customs formalities).
  • Many of our events are held in Rochester proper, but some go as far afield as the "Southern Tier" of New York (the portion of western New York south of Rochester all the way to the Pennsylvania line) and the camping resorts of northern Pennsylvania. Also, we try to visit our Canadian brothers in Toronto and Montréal, as well as some of the smaller cities in southern Ontario like Hamilton and London, when we can.
  • The greater New York metropolis is served by Bear Cafe. A second club, Metrobears, appears to have lost its Internet presence, we hope temporarily.

© 2005, Empire Bears, Inc.