The Romeo Peach Festival may be over this year, but the Romeo Community Archives conducts oral histories about the cherished event all year round.
All interviews will be apart of the digital Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection. Each will contain the audio and transcript.
Each participant will also be given a sticker for sharing their memories of the festival. Richard Cory, the man seen above, wore said sticker after we interviewed him back in early August.
For those who don't know, Richard Cory has been a prominent Romeoite for decades from his work at WBRW Channel 6 to being the "Voice of the Peach Parade" and the "Voice of the Romeo Bulldogs."
We recently added Richard's interview to the digital collection. He has gone to the Peach Festival many times since he was a child. In our conversation, he shared plenty of fond memories of being at the event from attending the carnival to announcing the parades.
Richard revealed that Channel 6 began reporting on the Peach Festival parades in the late 1980s. They set up their equipment in the alleyway next to what is now the MJC Marketplace around that time, and Comcast put a drop rig, so the station could go live. Along with a modulator, seven cameras, and a lot of people helping, Channel 6 was able to cover the parades with success. They continue to report on them to this very day.
Richard started annoucning the Floral parades right around 1990, and he said that his favorite time to do that was when he was the Grand Marshal of the Romeo Peach Festival in 2009 (note: in the audio, he claims that it was 2010, but an article in The Romeo Observer September 2, 2009 issue proved that he held that title in the latter year). He recalled that the people from the Romeo-Washington-Bruce Parks & Recreation called and asked if he wanted to be Grand Marshal. He initially said no because he felt that it was for older people, but his wife asserted, “Richard, how often is somebody going to ask you to do something like that? You know, rethink this.”
He soon changed his mind. Not only was he Grand Marshal that year, but he also covered the Floral Parade. For anyone else, this would be hard to juggle two big gigs at once, but he was able to pull it off. He explained that as Grand Marshal, all he had to do was sit in a convertible during that parade. It helped that he was in the front in between Peach Queen Kathleen Cieslik and then Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel. Once it ended at the Croswell School, he got into a cart, which drove him back to downtown, so he could finish announcing. He remarked that no one paid attention to him during the parade because he was sandwiched between those two prominent people, but they certainly did by the time he switched to being an announcer. When he came by the Four Corners, his granddaughter yelled "Papa, Papa, Papa," ran out, and grabbed him. To him, it was the best memory of the festival.
Richard also recounted a time, in which a metallic balloon caused a major power outage by hiting the electrical lines over Starkweather Alley. He remembered that when that happened, "there was a big spark and then everything went down."
Apparently, it lasted through the rest of the Floral Parade that day. The Romeo Observer reported on this on the front page in their September 8, 1999 issue.
In addition, he shared stories about his involvement in the village including becoming the director of the Romeo Community Center (now the Romeo-Washington Bruce Parks & Recreation), how Channel 6 acquired their own building on Morton Street, his time at The Romeo Observer, and how the Romeo Bulldogs are involved during the Peach Festival and not just with their Friday football game.
Richard and I had a great time talking about the Romeo Peach Festival. The Romeo Community Archives looks forward to talking to more people about their memories of the Peach Festival and what it means to them at next year's festivities.
It doesn't matter if you're young or old. We want to hear all of the stories about the festival.
To check out the Richard Cory interview, you can go to 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, 2025