VIDEO: Kiwanis Club officials preview Peach Festival

Lewiston’s largest event to be held Sept. 5-8 at Academy Park

Kiwanis Club of Lewiston officials held a press conference Friday to announce the 66th annual Niagara County Peach Festival will return to Academy Park the weekend of Sept. 5-8.

Event chairman Mark Briglio estimated a crowd of 40,000 at this year’s four-day family-fun-fundraiser, weather-permitting.

Moreover, Peach Festival volunteers are projected to serve more than 14,000 pounds (some 7 tons) of peaches along with fresh shortcake made by the famous DiCamillo Bakery. The Kiwanis Club of Lewiston will prepare and serve the peach shortcake under the big tent on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This year’s event will also feature 27 food vendors serving a wide variety of American and ethnic cuisine.

WATCH:

Chef Miabella Opfer makes a world-famous Niagara County Peach Festival peach shortcake.

Week before

The Peach Festival 5K Run will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, starting from Kiwanis Park in Lewiston. More details can be found at https://peachfestival5k.itsyourrace.com/event.aspx?id=119.

 Thursday night

The “Peach Taste Off” recipe competition returns to the Alphonso I. DiMino Memorial Band Shell stage starting at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5. This culinary showcase will feature a competition of homemade peach desserts. It is sponsored by the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute, the Niagara Gazette and Niagara Frontier Publications/Niagara County Tribune/Sentinel. Prizes include a $100 Savor Restaurant gift card.

Also on Thursday night, the popular Nerds Gone Wild 1980s tribute will take the stage at 8 p.m. for two hours of live music and “Nerdy” entertainment.

Amusements of America will again be the ride company at this year’s Peach Festival, supplying thrilling and family-friendly rides for all ages.

The Kiwanis Club of Lewiston again hired the ride inspection team of LJM & Associates to add a third level of safety inspections to the rides this year. New York state inspectors and Amusements of America also inspect the rides.

Friday

Opening ceremonies will be held at 5 p.m. Friday, with a rendition of both the American and Canadian national anthems. This year’s emcee will be WEBR’s veteran talk-show host and Buffalo Broadcast Hall of Fame inductee Tom Darro.

At 5:30 p.m., an all-star cheerleading competition will be held on the bandshell stage, with local units representing youth football and all-star cheering squads.

At 8:30 p.m., Queen City will take the stage and play until the 11 p.m. closing.

Saturday

The morning of Sept. 7 will feature the Peach Festival parade on Center Street, starting at 11 a.m. Serving as parade announcer once again this year will be veteran radio personality Brandy Scrufari. This year’s march will feature 90 units, five bands and five dance units.

The Peach Blossom and Peach Fuzz contests for the youngsters will also take place on Saturday on the Academy Park stage, at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

The Peach Queen contestants will conduct a fashion show at 6 p.m. Finally, the popular “Tribute to Elvis” with Terry Buchwald will take place at 8 p.m.

Sunday

On the closing day, the stage schedule includes a dance showcase from noon until 2 p.m., followed by live music with Everyday People (3 p.m.) and then the finals of the Peach Queen scholarship pageant (7 p.m.).

This year, 18 girls from Niagara County have entered the competition, each vying for the crown and a $4,000 scholarship awarded by the Kiwanis Club. The hostess for the Peach Queen finals will again be WGRZ-TV Channel 2 news anchor Maryalice Demler.

Transportation

Briglio reminded attendees there will be free parking available to all festivalgoers, departing from the upper Artpark lot off Portage Road. Greyline Tours shuttle buses will provide courtesy rides into Academy Park.

Fontana, Briglio and Ferree enjoy a peach shortcake.

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The first Peach Festival was held in 1958 and, since then, the Kiwanis Club of Lewiston has used event funds to donate more than $1.7 million to area charities and organizations.

The 2024 Niagara County Peach Festival is presented by the Kiwanis Club of Lewiston, Modern Disposal, WGRZ-TV, WKSE “Kiss” 98.5, Niagara County, the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute and Tim Hortons/CRB Holdings.

For more information, visit www.niagaracountypeachfestival.org.