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.

2025 Mowing Contract

We seek bids for mowing downtown city parks and green spaces, with edge trimming around trees, shrubs, bushes, and signage. Landscaping will be done as frequently as necessary to keep a well-manicured, neat, and professional appearance of City parks and public property located within the BID District. Proposals are due on Friday, March 28 and the contract will be awarded April 1, 2025. RFP

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 Bagel Co. | Auburn Public Theater |
Cafe 108 | Combgrown Mead | 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 | Moro’s Table |
Nash’s Framing & Art | Parker’s 129 | Petal Haus FLX | 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 | Vape Kult  | Wegmans | West & Co. Diamonds

BID’s DRI Public Art Placemaking Projects Near a Close

These projects were prepared with funding awarded to the City of Auburn and 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, and on exterior walls of private businesses and organizations. 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, with Sky Woman at the corner of William & Lincoln Streets; Ideogenesis at South Street & Genesee Street; and Harriet Tubman: Life Cycles of a Freedom Fighter at Freedom Park; plus Auburn murals on the backside of Auburn Public Theater and above Nash’s Framing & Art. Plus, we’re adding a new sculpture installation into the mix, behind the Hadley Building, so stay tuned.

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 129 for delicious pub fare. Prefer a café experience? Try Café 108, Auburn Bagel Co. and Roast & Toast for soups, bagels, sandwiches, toasts, salads, wraps, bakery items & gourmet beverages & cocktails. 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 grocery, all within a mile or so radius. 
Visit our dining page!

Award-Winning Craft Brew & Spirits

Enjoy gourmet 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. They also pour craft beer, cider and cocktails. Visit the chic tasting room, across from Wegmans. Also new is The Armory, an upscale speakeasy lounge space below Prison City Pub, hosting comedy & more.

Neighboring Auburn Bagel Co. and Simple Roast & Toast offer delicious daytime fare and nightime cocktails. Next, visit Moondog’s Lounge for top-notch live entertainment and themed cocktails over the weekend and Wednesday open mic night. Across the way, at A.T. Walley enjoy a cigar & premium whiskey on their outdoor patio, on the inside check out their impressive George Dickel patron bottle wall. Next, try the craft beer, cider & hard lemonade at Shep’s Brewing Co. Across the street at Parker’s 129 you can imbibe more craft beer, and specialty cocktails. 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. For more ideas, 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. Downtown welcomes Wild Flower NY Auburn’s first woman-owned cannabis dispensary located in the Nolan Block. This high-end licensed dispensary is welcoming, bright, and modern with colorful furniture and murals. 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, NY proudly ranked in the country’s Top 40 Most Arts-Vibrant Communities of 2024 by SMU DataArts. Auburn is #10 Top Small Cities- and the only small city selected in New York State. Auburn has also 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.