The Northern Macomb Regional Chamber of Commerce recently celebrated their 50th Anniversary at the annual EMMA Awards. They began as the Greater Romeo Chamber of Commerce in 1969 and were incorporated as the Greater Romeo-Washington Chamber of Commerce in 1975.
The Chamber of Commerce has contributed so much to the Romeo and northern Macomb areas, especially with events like St. Baldrick's and the Romeo Peach Festival parades. In fact, they created a board game called "The Peach Parade" in 1983 to have the Peach Festival parades all year round.
The Romeo Observer Assistant News Editor Mary Kay Bean wrote an article about the game in the November 23, 1983 issue. She describes "The Peach Parade" as "a board game for four persons that offers players the opportunity to buy and sell area businesses and charge rent to other players who land on their property while progressing around the board."
According to the game itself, the objective is "to become the wealthiest resident of Romeo-Washington by buying, operating and selling local businesses."
In other words, "The Peach Parade" is Monopoly Romeo Peach Festival style.
If that isn't enough, Karen Hamilton took some photos of the board game. One of them is seen above. It shows Greater Romeo-Washington Chamber of Commerce representative Francine Toney playing the game with executive director Dr. Ray McKinley with dice, tokens, and play money around them.
The other picture of the board game itself can be seen below.
There are some businesses that are still around, but as of 2025, most are gone. Do you recongize any of them?
Toney commented in the article that the board game was selling very well already, but supplies were limited. If you wanted to get "The Peach Parade" in 1983, they were at the Chamber of Commerce office, which was located at the rear of the 42nd District Court building at the time; the Romeo Historical Museum; Tuerkes'; Shotwell's Men's Wear; Toys-N-Things; The Stationers of Romeo; Confectionery Supplies; Alward's Supermarket in Washington; Anderson Printing; and Bob's Bike Shop. Some of those businesses are represented in the game itself.
Sadly, "The Peach Parade" board game is hard to find these days. However, the Romeo Community Archives actually has two other ones: the "Romeo-Washington Michigan City Limits" game in the Romeo Peach Festival Collection and the "The Game of Romeo" in the Romeo Kiwanis Club Collection (they are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year too). Both are Monopoly-esque games that promote Romeo-Washington businesses.
"The Peach Parade" is one of many things that the Northern Macomb Regional Chamber of Commerce has done to make a difference in the area in the last 50 years, and I'm sure there will be more. Here's to another 50!
To learn more about the Northern Macomb Regional Chamber of Commerce, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890. If you want to search for articles on that topic, you can find the Romeo newspapers like The Romeo Observer on the Suburban Library Cooperative's Local History Digital Collection website.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer, November 23, 1983, p.5