The Romeo Peach Festival is about five months away, and the Romeo Community Archives will be there this year to conduct oral histories about the cherished event.
Each participant will be given a sticker for sharing their memories of the festival. Lori Weber, the woman seen above, wore said sticker after we interviewed her at last year's Peach Festival.
All interviews will be apart of the digital Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection. Each will contain the audio and transcript. We recently added Lori's interview to said digital collection. In our conversation, she shared plenty of fond memories, including bringing family members from out of town to the festival and checking out the many things it offers.
When asked what the festival meant to her, Lori replied that it brings many people to the community and lets them know what Romeo is all about. While there, people have the oppportunity to visit many businesses, including shops that are open year-round, and eat the famous peaches.
Lori moved to Romeo in 2010 and has gone to the event for about 10 years. She took relatives to the festivities, including those from out of state. She recalled that when her sister-in-law came to Romeo in 2024, the first thing she asked was, "When's the Peach Festival?"
Lori even walked her first dachshund on the streets before the parade began. According to her, the dog "was a little overwhelmed with everybody, but she still...got along."
Since she's from Detroit, Lori and her husband love to check out the classic car show. They also make sure to attend the car parade on Labor Day. To her, it feels like a mini-Woodward Dream Cruise. She mentioned, "It was fun to see everybody so excited to see the different kinds of cars and wave and yell your name when they recognize you and stuff."
While it's not clear when the Classic Car Parade began, we do know that the Peach Festival Classic Car Show has been around since 1987. The front page of the September 2nd issue of The Romeo Observer had a quick blurb about it that year.
The Burger King in question was located on 66021 Van Dyke Road. It's where Arby's currently stands in Washinton Township.
Another favorite thing that Lori does is to check out the craft shows. She loves seeing the local artists and "filling her yard with different whimsical things."
Lori has a plan for when she goes to the craft shows. She looks at different sections to find lawn ornaments or statuary posts to hang up. At the festivities in 2024, she purchased a cement sloth and two dresses. Her goal for 2025 was to get a giraffe for her menagerie. I hope she got it. If not, there's always this year.
The craft show at the Peach Festival have been around in some form since 1982. On the front page of the September 1, 1982 edition of The Romeo Observer, it quickly mentioned that there will be a Country Fair at the Croswell School field on the Saturday of the festival, featuring arts, crafts, and flea and farmers' markets. This article can be seen below.
Lori 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 this year's festivities.
It doesn't matter if you're young or old. We want to hear all of the stories about the festival.
All interviews will be apart of the digital Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection. Each will contain the audio and transcript.
To check out the Lori Weber 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; Romeo Peach Festival Collection, 1982 and 1987; and 1987 Romeo High School Yearbook