EAST AURORA, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Village of East Aurora has approved a permit the Buffalo Bills filed for players to walk from 42 North to the Aurora Theater for the premiere of Hallmark’s “Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story.”
“It’s going to be a great way to kick off the holidays in the village. By having this movie premiere here, it kind of puts us in the spotlight,” said Victoria Sturman, the executive director of the Greater East Aurora Chamber of Commerce.
The cast of the film will be joining players to walk to the theater. The event will take place from 5 p.m. till 8 p.m. on Nov. 13.
Village Administrator Shane Krieger said they will close Main Street and get all the parked cars off of Main Street before 5 p.m.
“It will be similar to what locals are aware of what happens for, like, Carolcade, where that two blocks of Main Street from Riley and Elm down to Olean and Pine are closed and a couple side streets in between will be blocked off,” said Krieger.
He believes the event will draw crowds from both the Buffalo Bills fanbase and the Hallmark fanbase and said he wouldn’t be surprised if some autographs are signed.
The movie filmed multiple scenes around East Aurora, including at businesses such as Bar Bill, Elm Street Bakery, and Vidler’s 5 & 10. They also recreated an East Aurora holiday tradition: the Carolcade.
“They’re calling it East Aurora, they’re calling it Vidlers, they’re calling it Elm Street Bakery or Bar Bill, so we won’t be a fictional town standing in for a village in Vermont or something, and certainly because the Bills are involved, so it’s pretty neat to that degree because I think we’ll get a lot of exposure,” said Don Vidler, co-owner of Vidler’s 5 & 10.
Though holiday movies have been filmed in East Aurora in years prior, this movie is the first Hallmark movie to be filmed and first Hallmark movie to premiere in East Aurora.
“It’s huge for East Aurora but it’s also big for Western New York. The Buffalo Bills are such a part of this community and Hallmark is becoming such a big part of this community that it’s a match made in heaven,” said Tim Clark, the Buffalo Niagara Film Commissioner. “It will garner lots and lots of worldwide attention, not just national but around the globe.”
Vidler tells us that the movie premiere event at the theater is by invitation only; however, the movie will air on the Hallmark Channel at 8 p.m. on Nov. 22.