The Romeo Peach Festival is six months away, and the Romeo Community Archives will be there this year to conduct oral histories about the cherished event.
The Romeo Peach Festival has been running since 1931, which makes it the second-longest running festival in Michigan behind the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. The founders originally saw it as a way to boost the economy in the Romeo area, especially for crops like peaches. With how long the celebrations have been going, we wanted to capture the stories of the people who have went there.
Starting last year, we have asked attendees about their memories of coming to the Peach Festival and what it means to them as well as edcuated them about its past. It doesn't matter how long people have been going. We love any story that involves the Peach Festival. We plan on being there for every year leading up to its 100th Anniversary in 2031.
All interviews will be apart of the digital Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection. Each will contain the audio and transcript.
We recently uploaded our first interview in that collection. It involves Andrew Wasylyna, the man seen above. Andrew has come to the festival 20-30 times since 1961. In our conversation, he mentioned how the Peach Festival is a good hometown festival with the orchards and small town spirit.
One of Andrew's fondiest memories was seeing Governor George Romney in the parade on Main Street when he was a child. Andrew was so small that his brother, who is ten years older, put him on his shoulders to get a better look at the governor, who was in a red and white Cadillac convertible. He remembered thinking, "Wow, the governor of Michigan in Romeo!"
While it's not common for a governor to show up at the Peach Festival, it's a big deal when they do. Through the physical Romeo Peach Festival Collection, we discovered that George Romney showed up to the festivities twice in 1964 and 1966. He participated in the floral parade both years and even acted as Grand Marshall in the former.
Andrew and I had a great time. The Romeo Community Archives looks forward to talking to more people about their memories of the Romeo Peach Festival and what it means to them.
To check out the Andrew Wasylyna interview, you can go the Romeo Community Archives online catalog. More will be uploaded in the near future.
If you want to participate in the Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890. We can also conduct interivews outside of Romeo Peach Festival weekend if you feel more comfortable that way.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection, 2024 and Romeo Peach Festival Collection, 1964 and 1966