Melissa Parker Leonard is the founder of 7th Gen Cultural Resources, an organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Indigenous history. She will discuss the Erie Canal’s impact on the Buffalo Creek Reservation and Seneca Indian Park.

The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC) is presenting the 2025 Erie Canal Bicentennial Commemoration at Canalside in Buffalo, NY from Memorial Day through September. The EC200 Speaker Series will take place in the Buffalo Naval Park’s Hangar Building on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM. This series is co-sponsored by the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park and The Buffalo History Museum.

Speakers will include subject matter experts regarding Buffalo’s Erie Canal heritage and those who were key in helping develop the Waterway of Change: Complex Legacies of the Erie Canal exhibit in the Longshed Building.