The sweet aroma of peaches filled the air all around Niagara-on-the-Lake last week, thanks to two popular peach festivals that marked the summer fruit’s harvest season.
The NOTL Chamber of Commerce and the St. Vincent de Paul Parish each hosted their annual peach festivals to celebrate the love of the fruit and the peak of the peach-growing season in Niagara.
The Chamber of Commerce’s event took place from Aug. 8 to 9 and included two main components — shopping and the newly added Peach Pit party.
The Peach Pit in Simcoe Park was the place to be for live music, kids’ activities and a calmer environment to enjoy peach treats in. The shopping took place on Queen Street, where dozens of vendors showed off their peachy products.
“We sell our peach jam, our peach marmalade and our peach chutney. And of course, peach jam is always at the top of the list,” said Angela Redekopp, vice president of Greaves Jams and Marmalades.
Greaves was one of the shops on Queen Street that took its products outside for the festival. The staff working the booth wore themed peach headbands for the occasion.
“Everybody loves a nice festival where they can walk around the street and have something to eat or drink or taste, and we kind of fit the bill,” Redekopp said.
“We’re sort of the perfect fit for the peach festival, so we know we need to be a part of it.”
A popular food item was the peach grilled cheese, where peach jam was spread on the bread before cheese was added and the sandwich was cooked.
For Dianne Brown and Terra Unger, the peach grilled cheese was the highlight of the festival.
The friends from St. Catharines were in town to buy fudge, and said they were pleasantly surprised to discover an event dedicated to fruit.
“NOTL is known for its fruit, so it’s fun to celebrate that,” Brown said.
Other popular treats included peach popsicles and peach slushies.
Isabelle Chartrand and nine-year-old Gabi said the peach slushies were delicious.
But for Gabi, the best part of the festival was getting an axolotl balloon animal and a sparkly peach painted on her face.
The Welland family has been visiting NOTL for years, but had not been to a peach festival until last weekend.
“We did a peach grilled cheese, peach cheesecake, and now we’re having the slushies,” Chartrand said, calling the cold slushies a perfect end to the day.
The St. Vincent de Paul festival also sold multiple kinds of peach-themed foods, such as the popular peach pies.
NOTL resident Christine Secco-Hoffacker said she and her family attend the church’s festival every year.
At each festival, Secco-Hoffacker purchases multiple peach pies to serve guests in her home. This year, she took home four pies.
“It’s four nights of incredible peach pie,” Secco-Hoffacker said.
Her daughter, Muriel Wixson, lives in Boston but makes the drive to NOTL every year for the festivities.
For her, the trip is worth it because of the kindness of the community and the taste of locally grown fruit.
“Everyone is so kind, and the peaches are obviously delicious,” Wixson said.
“It’s hard to not come,” Secco-Hoffacker added.
The St. Vincent de Paul festival runs a thrift-style sale, where donated items such as books, household decorations and jewelry are sold.
The peaches sold at the event are donated by local farmers.
“100 per cent of the proceeds go to the upkeep of the cemetery and the church hall,” said Sharyn Choules, co-chair of the St. Vincent de Paul festival.
While the two peach festivals share a weekend, most of the operations are done separately. But this year, the Chamber of Commerce and the St. Vincent de Paul parish teamed up to promote recycling.
A recycling drive was added to the parish festival, which came in handy when guests finished their plates of peach pie, sundaes and crepes.
“We wanted to be more stewards of the Earth, so the Chamber of Commerce helped us out with that this year by providing us with bins,” Choules said.
Both new ideas and returning traditions had a place at the parish festival, such as musician John Libera coming back for a third year.
Libera played a variety of songs, ranging from Elvis Presley tracks to kids’ tunes.
The music and sweet smell of peaches in the air made an environment suited for all activities — dancing, eating, shopping and playing games.
The peach pit at the Chamber of Commerce festival highlighted eight musical acts over the two-day event, such as Quell The Swell Celtic Band from Hamilton, Ont.
Band member Tom Gaasebeek said the peach festival is the perfect environment for the group to play in.
“We do East Coast, sort of Irish fiddle and mandolin … You feel like you want to dance and jig,” Gaasebeek said. “It’s family-oriented, fun music.”
Before their performance, Gaasebeek said the band made sure to eat some peaches to get in the right spirit.
“(The festival has) been here for years, and it gets better and better,” he said. “We’ll be back and we’ll eat even more peaches.”
Both peach-themed festivals attracted large crowds, filling the atmosphere with excitement, music and peachy treats.
While the festivities are officially over, the love of peaches lives on through items such as Greaves’ peach spreads and Chef and Bub’s peach popsicles.
