BUFFALO, N.Y. — "The City of Good Neighbors" is living up to its title.
Niagara Falls was illuminated orange Friday morning, just two days before Buffalo's beloved Bills take on the Bengals, in celebration of the friendship the two teams and their fan bases have built.
"Recently, with the events involving Damar Hamlin, we're very thankful for the classy way that Bengals fans and the team kind of approached that situation," said Sara Harvey, Destination Niagara USA's director of communications. "We've had so much support from the city of Cincinnati and we're just really thankful so we just wanted to share our appreciation."
This isn't the first time Buffalo has shown their love for Cincinnati. 26 Shirts, a company known for its Bills shirts and love of giving back to its community, created special edition shirts following Hamlin's progress. With every purchase, $8 goes to UC's Trauma Center. Fans also donated to a charity wide receiver Tee Higgins supports to show their support for him.
"Really, (Cincinnatians) I want to say they ought to be proud of themselves, but that's what you would hope any city would do," Bills fan Jill Dolan, who was at the Monday Night Football game where Halim collapsed, said of Cincinnati's response. "I just can't believe the outpouring of love from your doctors to the people providing food to those people. It was amazing."
Long before the two teams met on Jan. 2, Bills Mafia raised money for wide receiver Tyler Boyd and former quarterback Andy Dalton, whose touchdown helped qualify Buffalo for its first playoff appearance in 17 years.
Fans in both cities said they feel there will always be a connection between the two teams.
While the orange color change was a one-time situation, Harvey said the falls are lit up every night.
"If you're headed into town, you're going to see the game, you can make a trek up after the game on Sunday and view the falls," said Harvey.
