Experience Downtown Auburn, NY

We're History's Hometown- What Happens Here, Makes History!

Downtown Auburn BID

Located in the heart of the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of NY, Auburn is the hub of business & leisure activity. The BID District is a unique mix of eateries, craft breweries, cultural attractions, lodging & boutique retail, health & wellness offerings and business & government services. Plus with Owasco River running right through the center, and over a dozen public art installations, downtown’s attractiveness is further enhanced.

BID’s Public Art Placemaking Projects Move Forward

These projects were prepared with funding provided by the New York State Department of State and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative consists of six public art installations on City streets, in public parks, on exterior walls of private businesses, and in privately-owned open space with a direct connection to the streetscape. Installations include street light pole art panels along Loop Road and Genesee Street to establish the Avenue of the Arts; three sculptures & green space improvements at the corner of William & Lincoln Streets; South Street & Genesee Street; and the Life Cycles of Harriet Tubman at Freedom Park; plus murals at Auburn Public Theater and Nash’s Framing & Art. Please stay tuned as these exciting projects unfold to beautify downtown. Click here for more info about the South Street sculpture project: http://www.auburnartcall.com/.

Downtown Auburn Gift Certificates

If you need an easy gift idea, and want to shop small and local, BID certificates are redeemable at nearly 40 downtown businesses, please click here to learn more & purchase online by credit card. If you’re downtown, stop into the Equal Rights Heritage Center, at 25 South Street, and purchase them right at the front desk, payable with cash or check.

Certificates are redeemable at the following participating BID businesses: A.T. Walley | Auburn Document Centre | Auburn Public Theater | Cafe 108 | Finger Lakes Scuba | Fred’s Barber - Cuts | Hairlooms | Jim Van Arsdale Guitar School | L.B. Lightning Cyclery | The Liberty Store | Lynch’s Furniture | Massage by Rachel | Melody’s | Moondog’s Lounge | Moonflower Macarons | Moro’s Table |
Nash’s Framing & Art | Next Chapter Brewpub | Parker’s Grille & Tap House | Prison City Pub & Brewery | Regenerations |
Reuse Refuge | Sam’s Shoes | Seward House Museum | Shepherd’s Brewing Co. | Silbert Optical | Subway | Speno Music | Swaby’s Tavern | Taste NY Market | Trombley's Automotive | Underground Bottle Shop | Vape Kult | Wegmans | West & Co. Diamonds

Award-Winning Dining

Enjoy fine dining at Moro’s Table, named by Travel & Leisure magazine as one of only six “America’s Best Wine Country Restaurants.” For fine Italian, enjoy a leisurely dinner & live entertainment at Osteria Salina. To pick-up a quick lunch, try Mesa Grande Taqueria for fresh California-Mexican cuisine, or Parker’s Grille & Tap House for delicious pub fare. 3Leaf Tea prepares house blended Matcha teas & lite fare inside Zen Den Yoga Studio. Prefer a café experience? Try Café 108 for soups, salads, wraps, bakery items & gourmet beverages. Late night, grab a slice at Angelo’s Pizza, it can’t be beat! In total, downtown Auburn boasts over 30 eateries, plus a Wegmans café & grocery, all within a mile or so radius. 
Visit our dining page!

Award-Winning Craft Brew & Spirits

Enjoy food & beverages at Auburn’s thriving Prison City Pub & Brewery, whose brewing team clutches numerous awards annually. New to downtown is Combgrown Mead, their honey mead canned beverage line includes Honey Pops Session mead, and rhubarb and elderflower grape mead seltzers. Visit the chic tasting room, across from Wegmans.

Next, visit Moondog’s Lounge for weekly top-notch live entertainment and specialty cocktails. Across the way, at A.T. Walley enjoy a cigar & premium whiskey on their outdoor patio, inside see their impressive George Dickel patron bottle wall. Next, try the craft beer, cider & hard lemonade at Shepherds Brewing Co. At Next Chapter Brewpub you can imbibe more craft beer, plus wood-fired pizzas & tapas, cider & spirits and live entertainment. Go to Swaby’s Tavern from lunchtime to late night, and see floor to ceiling relics & antiques, plus a display honoring Auburn’s infamous electric chair. Purchase boutique wines, local cider & spirits at The Underground Bottle Shop on East Hill. Visit our dining page!

That’s Entertainment

Auburn Public Theater is downtown’s flagship for cultural entertainment, presenting national comedy acts, professional theater, musical performances, poetry, films, open mic & more.
If you’re interested in Civil War era history, tour the Seward House Museum & gardens, a National Historic Landmark with an intact collection from Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward’s family. Start your Auburn adventure at the NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center for visitor info, interactive exhibits & displays, historic-themed merchandise, Summer Saturday Markets, special events & programs, plus the local products offered at the Taste NY Market. For more fun, BID and the City of Auburn partner to offer street festivals, parades, First Friday, Founder’s Day, Music on the Mall, Rock the Top, and summer concerts at Hoopes Park, movies & more. There’s always something fun happening downtown.
Visit our play page! Visit our events page!

Boutique Shopping

For clothing, footwear, high-end custom jewelry, musical instruments, art supplies & more, shop our independently-owned retail businesses such as the Regenerations, Reuse Refuge, Nash’s Art & Framing, Speno Music, Sam’s Shoes, the Liberty Store, L.B. Lightning Cyclery, West & Co. Diamonds, The Browtique & more. If you’re craving something sweet, try Moonflower Macarons and Gretchen’s Confections for top-notch gourmet treats. Visit our shopping page!

Mixed Use Spaces

Downtown offers high-end urban living spaces above storefronts & restaurants, plus public parks & art installations. Limestone Lofts and apartments in the historic Auburn Flooring Building and the East Hill neighborhood are a welcome addition to downtown living options. The Phoenix Building offers office space, band studios, the Havana Room special event space, and CommonPlace Auburn space on the 4th floor. Plaza for the Arts combines the Cayuga Culinary Institute, retail, medical and business offices & corporate training space in the western entry of the business district. Click for downtown commercial & residential property listings. Visit our real estate page!

Best Small City

Auburn has won awards from various sources in the past few years such as, “Best Small Cities to Raise a Family” in the Northeast; fourth in “Top Ten Cities to Live in NYS;” No. 1 “Best Place for Small Businesses in the Northeast;” and “14th Best Small City to Live in the US,” by California-based fiscal advisory website NerdWallet. The City was also recognized by Kaboom! as a Playful City USA Community for its Parks Master Plan and ongoing improvements to its parks & playgrounds.

For more information about Downtown, please contact the Auburn Downtown BID Staff at (315) 252-7874.

Photos & artwork by Michael Bruton, Jimmy Giannettino, Tom Hussey, Jesse Kline, Maureen McEvers,
Holly Mosher, Mike Ryan and Matt Weston.