Visiting the Dunkirk Boardwalk Market and Pier

In early April we spent 3 days up in Dunkirk, New York for the Full Solar Eclipse Festival. If you're unfamiliar with the area, Dunkirk is located in Southwestern New York along the shoreline of Lake Erie. It's a beautiful drive up from Central Pennsylvania taking I-80 and then jumping off to visit some of the historic small towns along the way.

The Dunkirk Boardwalk isn't like the type's of boardwalks you find along the eastern seaboard. There's a small marketplace with less than 10 locally-owned businesses. There's a few eateries and gift shops. There's a paved walking trail that runs along the waterfront (see the last photograph in this post) for you to walk on, so handicap accessible. 

Dunkirk's Pier is a large pier with free parking. It can get crowded during the busy tourist season, so you may need to find parking elsewhere on those days. There's park benches up on the pier for you to sit on to watch the fishing boats go in and out of the small harbor. During local events, bring along your own chairs to watch festivities up on the pier.

We were there for the Full Solar Eclipse Festival and met visitors from 7 different states during our stay! The festival drew quite the crowd! They set up 2 outdoor tents and had 2 live bands playing for the festivities. There was a cornhole court set up, an outdoor fire pit, an outdoor bar where you could buy alcoholic beverages and other fun activities going on.

64 on the Pier is a small restuarant and bar located right on the pier. It's VERY SMALL with just a little bit of seating indoors and seating outdoors. You can get just a handful of menu items and all kinds of alcoholic beverages. Boats can pull right up behind 64 on the Pier and dock. Go right in to grab a bite to eat and/or something to drink. On the eastern seaboard we call it "dockside dining". 

We had a great time hanging out on Dunkirk's Pier for the Full Solar Eclipse Festival and visiting the few little shops in the Marketplace. We felt 100% safe while attending the event thanks to the heavy Dunkirk police presence. Visitors and residents were friendly and everyone had a great time.