Some say the arrival of these outsiders underscores Buffalo's as-yet-untapped potential as a heritage tourism magnet. 

Buffalo, for example, was the last stop on the Underground Railroad before runaway slaves reached Canada. 

This also is the community that gave birth to the Niagara Movement 100 years ago, which led to creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

All these elements of the city's rich historical legacy will be celebrated with a conference of scholars this week, this weekend's induction of longtime Buffalonian Mary Burnett Talbert into the National Women's Hall of Fame and finally with the arrival of the national board of the NAACP next week. 

All three events commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Niagara Movement, the historic 1905 meeting in Fort Erie, Ont., of African-American scholars, historians and writers that evolved into the NAACP. 

But as workers raced this week to ready Buffalo's historic sites for this influx, the events also underscore the city's largely unrealized potential as a heritage tourism magnet that also can attract the general public. 

"We'll be ready for the conference, but we won't be totally ready," said George K. Arthur, the former Common Council president spearheading restoration of the historic Nash House. 

Budget cuts, funding promises that have yet to be fulfilled and infrastructure work that has yet to be finished mean visitors will get only a glimpse of the history this area has to offer. 

Kevin Cottrell, founder and former president of the Michigan Street Preservation Corp., has been preaching the potential of heritage tourism built around this region's Underground Railroad sites for more than a decade - often to nonbelievers. 

He has criticized the lack of progress in preparing sites to tap the market that's booming elsewhere, but these days, his frustration often leaves him at a loss for words. 

"There's nothing [in place]. It's the biggest secret going," said Cottrell, who co-founded the heritage promotions company Mo' Better Buffalo. "The question begs: "What's going on?' " 

What's going on elsewhere, according to Black Meetings & Tourism Magazine, is a $40 billion African-American travel and meetings market, one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry. 

In fact, travel by African-Americans is increasing by 4 percent a year - twice as fast as the overall tourism market, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. 

Travel to historic sites linked to the Underground Railroad and the Niagara Movement is a good chunk of that, and interest is not limited to African-Americans. 

With such landmarks as Michigan Street Baptist Church and the Nash House, and Broderick Park as a U.S. terminus of the Underground Railroad, advocates say Buffalo has the historic infrastructure to augment attractions like Niagara Falls and the Darwin Martin House and capture more of those tourist dollars. 

Even with the sites not fully developed, the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier was able to get the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which founded Black History Month, to hold its 90th annual convention in the Hyatt Regency today through Sunday. 

The conference, "The Niagara Movement - Black Protest Reborn," is expected to draw such participants as Mary Frances Berry, the outspoken former chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, as well as scholars from as far away as Paris and Nigeria. 

"The leading scholars in the field will be participating," said Lillian S. Williams, chairwoman of African-American studies at the University at Buffalo and a member of the national association's executive council. 

As many as 900 people are expected to attend, injecting roughly $720,000 into the local economy, according to Richard Geiger, president of the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau. 

They will be greeted by an airport exhibit by Williams' UB department focusing on the convention theme and the history of blacks in Buffalo. Once in the city, Buffalo's historical sites will provide many opportunities for field studies - and for those scholars to spread the word about what's here. 

Attractions include Michigan Street Baptist Church, one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad for slaves seeking freedom in Canada. 

Talbert opened her home, which once stood next door to the church, to preliminary meetings of Niagara Movement founders, including W.E.B. Du Bois, William Monroe Trotter and others. 

On the back side of the same block of Michigan Avenue, between Broadway and William Street, stands the former home of the Rev. J. Edward Nash, pastor of the Michigan Street Baptist Church for more than six decades, beginning in 1892. 

Though funding and contractor delays have left the Nash House project behind schedule, the door will be open for conventioneers to get a preview of the budding museum and research library. 

"People will get a flavor of what the house is all about," Arthur said. "It will give them something to talk about, think about." 

But Arthur said he had hoped for more visible progress around the Nash House. Crews have been working on new curbing along Michigan Avenue and paving Arsenal Place, which links Nash Street and Michigan, but installation of period street lights has been delayed. 

In recent years, large amounts of money have been committed to what is known as the Michigan Avenue Heritage Corridor to develop the sites, but payment has been slow. 

Much of the money destined for the project goes through the city's Office of Strategic Planning. Why the delays? 

"It's not unusual," said Timothy E. Wanamaker, its executive director. "Getting the commitment is the first thing. At least it's coming." 

So far, the city has spent $1 million restoring the Nash House and another $1 million on infrastructure - including landscaping, Wanamaker said. 

The historic church itself needs significant work to preserve it, but that hasn't stopped people from visiting. 

"We get them [visitors] all the time - constantly - from all over," said Bishop William Henderson, its pastor. The Buffalo Niagara Freedom Station Coalition is overseeing church restorations. Recent funding includes matching grants totaling $450,000. 

"We are trying to do as much as we can to develop the area so it will be tourist-friendly," Henderson said. "We need a lot of money. . . . We don't want the church to fall down. Without the church, you only have signage." 

Counting the money has been difficult. In July, for instance, Assemblywoman Crystal D. Peoples, D-Buffalo, announced she had secured $380,000 to finish the Nash House. But those funds turn out to be part of the $1 million, announced at another time, that had been redirected from the proposed Adelphia office complex to the entire Michigan Avenue project. 

None of that money has been delivered. 

Massive cuts by Erie County in the budget of the Convention & Visitors Bureau also have frustrated Buffalo's heritage tourism effort. The agency's budget, which had been $2.9 million last year was reduced this year to $1.7 million - less than what Rochester spends and many millions less than outlays by such cities as Cleveland, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. 

Many meetings were held last year to package and promote the centennial of the Niagara Movement, said Ed Healey, director of communications for the Convention & Visitors Bureau. 

"The momentum was getting going," Healey said. "Some of the air was let out of the balloon when the budget cuts hit." 

In addition to lacking money for a big-time promotion, the sites themselves are lacking, said Healey. 

"We are in the early stages at this point," he said. "The history is here. The stories are here to tell." 

Arthur has an idea to lure back this week's visitors for the rest of the story - at least where the Nash House is concerned. 

"We can send them some information when it's finished and say, "Come on back.' "