For Blueberry Treehouse Farm, The Area's First Treehouse Cafe, The Sky's The Limit | Entertainment

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Blueberry Treehouse Farm visitors were already charmed.

A giant papier mâché shark named Barry has dangled nose-down by Pine Island, a natural play area beyond the farm's barn.

A band shell and open lawn sit to the left of the property, the site of Blueberry Jams, the live folk and roots concerts each Thursday.

Two acres of blueberry fields – which bustle during the short U-Pick season – climb the hill toward the back of the farm.

The new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls glows at dusk. Owners Rico and Jyl Rivera have poured resources into a project they hope turns the farm into a regional destination.

But the gem of the Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls has been revealed, mostly hidden from sight. The region's first treehouse cafe, a 3,000-square-foot, manmade hosting deck – starring a mezzanine that looms another 15 feet above – was unveiled during a trial run before Thursday's grand-opening.

The raised deck, which winds through the woods and peeks out from the trees, can accommodate 150 people, owners Rico and Jyl Rivera said. The cafe sells breakfast, lunch and dinner fare from outside vendors – highlighted by North Buffalo Vietnamese bubble tea shop Milk & Tea four days each week – plus about 15 beers from a deck bar.

Treehouse builder Ricardo Rivera and his wife Jyl Rivera are opening the new Treehouse Cafe, the newest attraction at their growing Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls. Rico has been working on deluxe treehouses since 2008.

The treehouse's dance with nature is a reflection of Rico Rivera's affection for trees and earth-friendly philosophy. The deck and mezzanine are not just bolted into the trees; they're built dynamically to respect natural movement and growth of the trees, which are load-bearing to varying degrees.

"The nature of just being up here, where the trees are blowing at you, all that oxygen, you're doing the same thing back, so there's an even exchange," he said from the mezzanine a week before opening. "I think that they enjoy it as much as we do. So that's why there's this kind of whimsy or this euphoric experience that you have when you're in a treehouse."

The new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls. The bookable VIP area is in the upper left, while the bottom deck is open to the public.

The treehouse cafe is both Rico Rivera's vision and handiwork, with an assist from head drafter Adam Scott. His wife and Brendan Biddlecom, an investor in the project, handle business and marketing.

"He's never done something cheap, simple and ordinary," Jyl Rivera said of her husband. "He likes to see the awe on people's faces."

"I like a good challenge," said Rico Rivera, who left his landscaping business to build treehouses after reading a book at Barnes & Noble.

Given their investment in the property at 1897 Davis Road, however, the Riveras feel pressure to have a successful season. The momentum of 10,000 visitors over the seven-week 2020 season – in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic – slowed at the West Falls destination last year. To rebound, the owners have dropped the entry cost from $7 to $5 and added a smorgasbord of attractions to complement the 2,000 blueberry bushes which, while trusty, are not moneymakers on their own.

The VIP area is perched in a nest above the rest of the cafe, accessible by a spiral staircase at the new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm.

The Riveras' new development was born partly from frustration. Their farm held maybe 30 minutes of appeal to families, who would then ask for suggestions for where to go nearby. The couple set out to provide reasons to stick around.

The new cafe is a natural hangout, more than a shady refuge from the heat of blueberry picking.

The new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm is lit up with bright colors at night.

Aspiring restaurants seeking to develop a customer base will be invited to serve, while specialists are welcome, too. Chuckuterie, a small Buffalo-area charcuterie business, offers prepackaged meat-and-cheese boards for snacks. Popsicles, non-alcoholic drinks and more snacks are available for kids.

The owners are not looking for a party scene, but drinks are key to the project. Ellicottville Brewing Company, Hamburg Brewing, 42 North and Flying Bison are among the canned beers available, but there's a twist. Instead of pouring the cans into plastic cups, a special can cutter called a Draft Top removes the lid from each can. Hard cider from Little Mack and canned wines are beer alternatives.

The new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls.

An adjacent beer garden – about 30 yards from the treehouse – can accommodate another 150 people. Just up the hill from the beer garden is an in-progress treehouse that will eventually be an AirBNB.

The owners had not determined an hourly or event rate for the mezzanine at the time of the interview, but they expect it to be the project's crowning jewel. A narrow spiral staircase winds upward to a long table carved from cherry wood, with live edges and room for about 14.

The spiral staircase that leads up to the VIP canopy at the Treehouse Cafe at Blueberry Treehouse Farm.

Rico Rivera's commercial treehouse-building company, Buffalo Treehouse, launched in 2008, but the farm's treehouse cafe took more than three years from design through full build and was easily his largest endeavor. He chose the trees – mostly maple and cherry – on his property that were healthy and thick, then worked through a thorough site study with Scott.

"Nature dictated the design," he said.

A new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls makes for a must-see magical space in the woods to rest after picking blueb…

The design process involved both manual grunt work and more advanced processes. Behind the childhood magic of a treehouse was a blend of planning, designing, computing and carpentry.

Climbing trees and measuring distances by hand required high-effort, but relatively low skill. Rico Rivera said he had spend six to eight hours in a harness, much more laborious than recreational tree climbing, he said. But for areas they could not access physically, he and Scott employed a drone to take photos and trusted software to analyze the photos and extrapolate the information into a 3D design. AutoCAD, a familiar computer design program, served only as a starting point.

Many of the cafe's structures were prefabricated, or built in the barn shop from these drawings. That part of the process went quickly, Rico Rivera said, but assembling the treehouse in the trees was a different beast. It's not like a two-story house.

"There's a complete void underneath it, so I think it gets really tough to suspend these things in the trees, and the time slows way down," he said.

The new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls.

"Liability, it's an understatement," Rico Rivera said. "It's a huge risk that we're taking, but I think no different than any other balcony that you go to."

He described his long-term relationship with Aurora officials, with whom he has built trust that such an uncommon project would not be a risk to the public. The town, where West Falls is a hamlet, contracted an engineer to ensure that the Riveras' treehouse cafe met code, especially in respect to loadbearing.

Three hundred feet of custom-welded steel handrails – shaped like branches – stand 42 inches tall and surround the deck and mezzanine. Reclaimed or natural materials were around every corner – reclaimed tin served as large canopies along the lower deck portion, while thick vines were clever purlins to increase support for the mezzanine's roof.

The new Treehouse Cafe at the Blueberry Treehouse Farm in West Falls glows at dusk.

The eventual goal is for the Blueberry Treehouse Farm to be open from April through October, a six-month stretch for visitors to connect with nature.

The Riveras just hope all the effort will be worth it.

"We've sacrificed so much to do this – time with our kids, time with ourselves, our sanity, our finances, stress, you know, working day and night," Rico said, estimating his work week at 80 to 90 hours. "We need relief, so this has to work."

The Blueberry Treehouse Farm's gazebo, right, was a draw in previous summers. The Treehouse Cafe extends out of the gazebo.

Ben Tsujimoto can be reached at btsujimoto@buffnews.com, at (716) 849-6927 or on Twitter at @Tsuj10.

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For socially distanced family activities outdoors, it's tough to beat U-Picks, especially when they usually entail a road trip to the countryside.