SALAMANCA — The Falling Leaves Festival, Salamanca’s longest running annual event, will have a new home this autumn.

The Seneca Salamanca Chamber of Commerce recently announced the festival will take place this year at Allegany State Park, marking the first time in its 36-year history the event will be hosted outside the city.

Chamber officials are expected to make a presentation regarding the move during the Salamanca Common Council meeting on Wednesday.

“Essentially, it’s like picking it up, keeping it almost as is and dropping it at the state park,” said Jenny Ingrao, director of marketing and events at the chamber.

A notable difference will be the move of the Falling Leaves Festival Grande Parade to the city’s Allegany Rockin’ Ribfest in August. The ribfest, scheduled for Aug. 16-18, will mark its second year this summer. The Falling Leaves car show, now being dubbed the “Rockin’ Ribs ‘n Rides Car and Motorcycle Show,” will also be moved.

Other Falling Leaves favorites, including the carnival rides, arts and crafts and food vendors, the “Kids Zone” and petting zoo will still be present, Ms. Ingrao said. Plans for a new “wine tasting” tent are also in the works. Park officials said some park organizations and activities will also be incorporated.

Ms. Ingrao explained several reasons for the event’s move, most notably because the chamber believes the festival has “outgrown” its traditional host site at Jefferson Street Park. Secondly, the festival’s purpose to promote downtown Salamanca isn’t fulfilled with the closure and absence of several Main Street businesses, she said.

“The idea behind moving the event to the park is to increase the overall attendance and to enhance the event experience for them,” added John Sheehan, executive director at the chamber.

To continue to promote Salamanca businesses at the festival, the idea of presenting visitors to the festival with a bag of coupons is being developed. The coupons, the value of which would be decided by businesses, would be given to festival attendees.

The chamber’s decision has been met with opposition, however, including by that of longtime food vendor Ross Ledsome, a Salamanca resident who operates Rossi’s Foods. Mr. Ledsome said he has been in attendance at every festival since its creation in 1976 and plans to express his opposition to the festival’s move during the Common Council meeting on Wednesday.

By that time, he expects to have more than 500 signatures on a petition to keep the festival in Jefferson Street Park.

“For me, it’s trying to change tradition,” he said. “Being one of the first vendors, I’m very protective of it.”

Mr. Ledsome said if the festival is moved, he plans to ask the city’s parks and recreation committee to allow him and other food vendors to operate in Jefferson Street Park that weekend “for the purpose of the Falling Leaves Festival.”

He said he reason for opposing the move is because the purpose of the festival was never to be a large-scale event but instead a festival catered by and for the people of Salamanca.

“It’s a thing where the community gets to come and socialize with each other,” he said. “It’s a fall festival where people can enjoy each others’ company here in their own setting. I think that by moving it outside the city, it destroys that.”

The decision to move the festival has been decided — the chamber has already been using Allegany State Park as the location in its promotional material — and chamber officials said they believe the community will embrace the idea after learning the reasoning it.

John Hedland, general manager of the Salamanca Save-A-Lot on Church Street and a member of the chamber, said he is in favor of the decision after initially having reservations about it.

“I had concerns for the local immediate patrons and businesses, but as I evaluated the opportunity and received more information, I believe that this could be a great opportunity to promote and combine resources to create an amazing festival for our local area,” he said. “I am a firm believer that the chamber is here to represent business members and I think this move will help the members.”

Ms. Ingrao said plans are currently in the works for the Salamanca City Central School District and Seneca Allegany Casino and Hotel to provide busing to the event for those who would have otherwise walked to the downtown festival. District Superintendent Robert Breidenstein noted officials from the chamber have presented the idea to him, but the board has yet to vote on the matter.

The idea to move the festival to the park almost came by coincidence. Gary Quattrone, park manager 3 at Allegany State Park, said the park had recently been toying with the idea of creating its own festival but lacked the personnel to plan an event of such magnitude.

The intention wasn’t for the park’s event to compete with Falling Leaves Festival, he said. But after talks with Ms. Ingrao, who has coordinated several events in recent years for the chamber, Mr. Quattrone learned of the chamber’s desire to find a more suitable location for the Falling Leaves Festival.

“Then it seemed like a natural progression; maybe we can do this together,” he said. “It really is a joining of hands, so to speak. The park will have a captive audience and bring people more exposure to what Salamanca has to offer.

“We are the host site and that’s how I want people to think of it,” he added. “It’s still the Falling Leaves Festival and it’s just hosted here by the park.”

The Falling Leaves Festival was created and produced first in 1976 by a group of residents called the Salamanca Positive Action Committee (SPAC). It was eventually turned over to the Salamanca Area Chamber of Commerce in the mid 80s and became the city’s responsibility in the early 90s before being turned back over to the chamber again.

The festival has traditionally been held in Jefferson Street Park in downtown Salamanca; its only other location coming for a few years in Veterans Memorial Park in the city’s west end.

“We’re asking for your support to try this in 2013,” said Philip Moyer, president of the chamber. “We will evaluate our results from several different vantage points to measure the success or failure of this new approach.”

This year’s Falling Leaves Festival will be held in the Beehunter Picnic Area, located near Red House Lake, on Oct. 5 and 6. The parade and car show have been moved to the Allegany Rockin’ Ribfest, scheduled for Aug. 16-18 in Veterans Memorial Park.

(This story is a combination of two stories which appeared in the May 16 edition of The Salamanca Press. Visit the e-edition of the paper or look in this week’s print edition for complete coverage.)