Lewiston’s largest celebration returns to Academy Park

√ 2025 Niagara County Peach Festival to be held Sept. 4-7 at Academy Park in Lewiston

The Kiwanis Club of Lewiston will present the 67th annual Niagara County Peach Festival from Sept. 4-7 at Academy Park on Center Street.

A Lewiston tradition, the Peach Festival has grown in popularity throughout the years with attractions for all ages.

“The first festival was held in 1958 and, since then, Lewiston Kiwanis have contributed over $1.8 million in donations to area charities from the festival proceeds,” said Mark Briglio, 2025 Peach Festival chairman.

Weather-permitting, Kiwanis officials are expecting a crowd in the 40,000 range to attend this year’s four-day event.

Briglio reminded attendees there will be free parking available at the upper Artpark lot Thursday-Sunday, with Niagara Tour Company shuttle buses providing courtesy rides to Academy Park.

Photo by Wayne Peters

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Kiwanians expect to serve more than 14,000 pounds – some 7 tons – of delicious peaches paired with fresh shortcake made locally by the famous DiCamillo Bakery. Club members and festival volunteers will prepare and serve the peach shortcake under the big tent on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s festival will also feature 27 food vendors serving a wide variety of American and ethnic cuisine.

The annual Peach Festival 5K Run is slated for Thursday, Aug. 28, at Kiwanis Park. More information and race results can be found at https://peachfestival5k.itsyourrace.com/event.aspx?id=119.

The “Peach Taste Off” recipe competition returns to the Alphonso I. DiMino Memorial Band Shell at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, with a competition of homemade peach desserts. The “Peach Taste Off” is sponsored by the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute, the Niagara Gazette and Niagara Frontier Publications.

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

Amusements of America will again serve as the midway ride operator at this year’s Peach Festival, supplying thrill- and family-friendly rides for all ages.

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

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 for the opening ceremonies 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 featuring 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.

On Saturday, the Peach Festival parade will take place along Center Street starting at 11 a.m. The grand marshal this year will be legendary comedian, musician and actor Dick Smothers, of the famous Smothers Brothers comedy team. Serving as parade announcer will be veteran radio personality Brandy Scrufari. This year’s parade will feature 90 units, five marching bands and five dance units.

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

Meet the Peach Queen candidates

Click to enlarge (PDF)

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

On Sunday, the stage schedule includes a dance showcase from noon until 2 p.m., followed by Everyday People at 3 p.m., and, at 7 p.m., the finals for the Peach Queen scholarship pageant.

This year, 16 women from Niagara County have entered the competition for the crown of Peach Queen and the $4,000 scholarship awarded by the Kiwanis Club.

The hostess for the Peach Queen finals will be WGRZ-TV news anchor Maryalice Demler. She will be inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame on Sept. 10.

The 2025 Niagara County Peach Festival is presented by the Kiwanis Club of Lewiston, Modern Disposal, WGRZ-TV Channel 2, WKSE “Kiss 98.5,” Niagara County, the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute and Tim Hortons/CRB Holdings. Visit www.niagaracountypeachfestival.org.

Increased safety measures

For the safety and security of those attending, no backpacks are to be worn, and only service dogs will be allowed on the festival grounds at Academy Park.

The Kiwanis Club announced the new policy on backpacks following a meeting with area police, fire and medical officials.

“We had our safety meeting. Their concern right now is backpacks coming in the field,” said Kiwanian Bill Justyk, festival chairman of security/first aid. “The police do not want backpacks on the field.”

Justyk said the Kiwanis Club’s increased focus on safety this year is similar to precautions being taken by law enforcement elsewhere at well-attended functions, such as sporting events, concerts and community fairs/festivals.

“Everybody should know – guns, knives, bombs – everybody’s got to realize that this is a real thing going on in the United States of America,” Justyk said. “We’ve got to make sure that backpacks are not allowed (on) the field.”

Kiwanis officials said visitors should expect to see signage at Academy Park informing them with regard to what’s permitted and what’s not at this year’s festival – and that police will be out in force.

Editor-in-Chief Terry Duffy contributed to this report.

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Metro Creative Graphics

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Look for ‘huge law enforcement presence’ at Peach Festival

Restrictions on backpacks; K-9 sweeps & drone patrols announced

By Terry Duffy

Editor-in-Chief

Lewiston Police Department Chief Mike Salada said his staff, along with area law enforcement officers, will be a bigger part of this year’s Peach Festival. Their focus will be providing a safe experience for all visitors.

“With our partners, you’ll see a huge law enforcement presence for the four days,” Salada said. “We’ll have our tower right on Academy Park; that will be manned the entire time.

“The Niagara County Emergency Management Office is bringing down four of their camera trailers that’ll go in all four quarters of Academy Park. We’ll have our two out there towards the middle; it’ll allow us to see the entire park.”

Salada said law enforcement will work with the Lewiston Kiwanis Club to keep the Peach Festival manageable and Academy Park safe.

The club announced backpacks will not be permitted on the park grounds.

“With the backpacks, it’s been a growing concern with people, just what they’re bringing,” Salada said. “We’ve had some issues over the years, where things that shouldn’t be brought in are being brought in in backpacks. And quite honestly, in talking with Kiwanis, we felt that what’s the need? Why do you need to have a backpack on the field? It just opens us up to the liability of not knowing what’s in it. It’s best if you keep it home.

“Now, are we going after the moms with diaper bags for their children? Absolutely not. If there’s a need, you got a young child and you need the diaper bag, things like that (are allowed).

“It’s more the backpacks and the teenage kids walking around, trying to avoid any trouble that could occur if you know something’s in one of those bags that we wouldn’t know about. It has happened in the past.”

Salada said K-9 units will do sweeps of Academy Park each day, as well as check and secure the parade route on Center Street on Saturday. Visitors to the village can expect to see police drones on patrol, too.

“We’ll have our drone, so it would not be unusual for someone to look up there and maybe see the drone at some point during the parade and at the festival,” Salada said. “Just using all these tools that we have to enhance security.”

He said Lewiston officers were an active part of the Northwest Jazz Festival, and the reactions were favorable.

“I had somebody approach me at the Jazz Festival, it was just a visitor from out of town, and they said to me that they really appreciated our presence,” Salada said. “It wasn’t overwhelming at the Jazz Festival, but they felt safe.

“They knew that we were there, but we weren’t there in an overwhelming presence. I took that as a compliment; they felt safe. They knew what we were doing to ensure their safety. But at the same time, they didn’t feel like they were being controlled and overwhelmed by a law enforcement presence.”

Visitors to the Niagara County Peach Festival can expect the same.

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