RCA Photo of the Week - December 11, 2025

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

The Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection Part 5 - Scott and Courtney Buzzell

The holidays bring families together, and this was especially true with the Buzzell Family. They lived in Romeo for nearly 200 years, and relatives gathered on Labor Day Weekend for the Romeo Peach Festival. Since the Romeo Community Archives conducts oral histories about the cherished event all year round, we were able to interview two members of the Buzzell clan, Scott and his daughter Courtney, about their experiences.

We recently added their interview to the digital Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection. They have gone to the Peach Festival many times. In our conversation, Courtney and Scott shared plenty of fond memories, especially of their family's tradition.

Scott recalled that the family home on Turner Street was a hot spot for the Peach Festival. Depending on the route, it was either where the parades began or ended. It was a great viewing spot regardless. More importantly, up to 40 family members came Labor Day Weekend. They would often have barbeque, sloppy joes, peach pies, and ice cream. Courtney even joked that the event was bigger than Christmas.

Geri Buzzell (nee Anderson) - Scott's mother and Courtney's grandmother - was the center of the family festivities that weekend. Scott fondly remembered that she baked her signature peach pies during that time. Courtney recalled that her grandmother insisted on having those with ice cream. Geri made so many pies that she brought 6-8 of them to the First Congregational Church. The Buzzells were active members of that church.

In addition, Geri participated in the Floral Parade in 1947. She worked for the Romeo Savings Bank (now the PNC Bank) at that time and was on the float that year. A picture of her on that float is in The Romeo Peach Festival book by David McLaughlin. She's the one in the red spaghetti straps sitting down.

On top of that, Geri was dating a man named Howard Buzzell. He drove the float that was she was on. They married in 1948 and had four children, including Scott.

Geri wasn't the only Buzzell member who was in the Floral Parade. Several people, including Scott, one of his sisters, Courtney, and her siblings, were in the marching band at Romeo High School. Courtney recalled that her grandmother would take in any "band friend strays" who didn't live in town nor had a place to go because the Buzzells had so much food.

Both interviewees admitted that their favorite parts of the Peach Festival were the marching bands. Courtney explained that the floats - with the exception of the Peach Queen one - couldn't be held to the standard of the marching bands. As the hometown band, they were always first. Moreover, there was something special about playing the fight song at a hometown parade. Courtney added that in her last year of marching band, they played both the fight song and "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses. Scott jokingly complained that when his kids were in the band, they never played when they marched by him.

Sadly, the Buzzell Labor Day parties ended when Geri passed away in 2016. She died a week after the Peach Festival that year. Courtney remembered eating mini peach pies and talking to Geri for hours before making her hang out with her friends. Scott also thought about the little things while with his mom at the Peach Festival. As a kid, if he was in the car with her, he would have her drive by the carnival. At one point, she even told him that there was an orchard right up to the corner of Prospect and Gates Streets, kitty corner to where the Romeo Motel is at today. It was gone by the time Scott was growing up.

Even though the Buzzell family tradition of meeting up at the Romeo Peach Festival is no more, Courtney has found a way to still connect to her heritage. She has started hosting Labor Day parties in her house in Vermont in case she's not able to go home. She and her wife prepare the food that made the tradition special to begin with. And if Coutney has any doubts of going to the Peach Festival because of how sad it would be without her grandmother, she would remember her saying, "That's stupid. Go celebrate."

Scott, Courtney, 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.

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 Scott and Courtney Buzzell 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 and The Romeo Peach Festival (Images of America) by David McLaughlin, p.57