WNY Maple Festival in Franklinville
Live Music, Parades, Pancakes & More, April 26-27

By Barbara Arnstein

   This year, the highly anticipated 61st Annual Western New York Maple Festival in Franklinville, NY, a festival created to showcase local producers of maple syrup and maple products, will take place on Saturday, April 26th and Sunday, April 27th. The wonderful weekend of family fun includes live entertainment, All-U-Can-Eat Pancake and Sausage Breakfasts both mornings, a parade, a petting zoo, family-friendly amusement park rides, over 170 vendors, a chicken BBQ and more. The annual Maple Festival King and Queen contest will be held on Friday, April 25th at 7pm, inside the High School auditorium.

    The festival areas include Park Square Historic District and the Elementary and High School grounds. Park Square is where the live music and vendors will be, along with fun involving wineries, breweries and distilleries. (Some vendors will be in indoor spaces.) Eric Schumaker, a member of the Western New York Maple Festival Committee, commented about the festival, “It gets better every year”. He added, “We started the Park Square segment of the festival two years ago and we are already seeing substantial growth in vendor requests.” He described the vendors’ products as “creative and unique”.

    On Saturday, from 11:30am-1:30pm, Travis Happoldt will perform, and from 2-6pm, Hintz of Thunder takes the stage. On Sunday, between 10:30am-12:30pm, Rog Pettengill will perform, and from 1-4pm, The Hick-Ups. On Saturday, April 26th at 11am, the WNY Festival Parade will showcase the creativity of local companies, community organizations and local fire departments. Plus, the local High School band and various school groups will participate. The parade will begin on South Main Street at the Franklin Street intersection and continue north to the fire department.

    The parade’s float contest, involving family-friendly costumes and performances, this year has the theme “Video Games and Movies”. It has two divisions, one including: school classes, school clubs and school organizations, and the other: businesses, local organizations and other non-school groups. The First Place winners in both categories will receive money and trophy prizes. The Chicken BBQ will be at the Fire Hall.  

    The Car and Auto Show, from 9am-4pm will be across from the Fire Hall, on North Main Street. In case of rain, the car show will be rescheduled for Memorial Day weekend. The Petting Zoo will also go from 9am-4pm. (Do not bring pets to the festival.)  The All-U-Can-Eat Pancake Breakfasts are available from 7:30am-2pm. To use GPS to get to the festival, use the address “32 N Main Street”. For more information, go to wnymaplefestival.com and follow the festival on Facebook.