SALAMANCA — A staple event in the city for decades, all are invited to the 41st annual Salamanca-Seneca Falling Leaves Festival with events happening all next weekend.
The festival is held daily from Friday, Sept. 28 through Sunday, Sept. 30 in Jefferson Street Park and the surrounding downtown area.
This is the third consecutive year that a group of community volunteers who have been involved with the festival many times has organized the Salamanca tradition.
Begun as a way to promote the culture of the Seneca Nation of Indians — as well as the relationship between the Nation and the city of Salamanca — the three-day event will have a cultural aspect with demonstrations of Seneca arts, food and entertainment.
Since the volunteer organizers took over, the festival has received support each year from the city and Seneca Nation, as well as from local businesses and organizations.
With smart investing going into the attractions of the festival, each year has grown with this year promising to be the biggest yet.
Attendees of the festival have the opportunity to experience Seneca culture and heritage and enjoy a view of the beautiful fall foliage covering the surrounding hills from the heart of the city.
Friday night will kick off the festival with Empire State Wrestling under the big tent in Jefferson Street Park. At 5 p.m., the men and women wrestlers of ESW will jump in the ring for a free and family-friendly show.
Afterwards, attendees will have the opportunity to meet their favorite regional wrestlers.
Admission to the festival is free, as are many of the activities offered for children and their families. There will be free carnival rides on Saturday and Sunday open at noon as well as face painting, balloon animals, a bounce house and a petting zoo.
On Saturday, the food and crafts vendors will open their stands at 11 a.m. Local vendors will have a smorgasbord for hungry attendees, including Indian tacos, fry bread, BBQ, curly fries, steak sandwiches, sausage sandwiches, bloomin onions, kettle corn, cupcakes, pizza, chili and more.
For shoppers, check out the stands offering stretch bottle art, Rustic Originals, Tupperware, jewelry, Native American puzzles and jewelry, baby clothing, crocheted items, Avon, Rhubarb Alpaca items, goats milk soaps, watercolor paintings and other local items.
Festival attendees should prep their eyes and ears for some live entertainment Saturday under the big tent with three unique acts. The family-friendly Happy Days Band are to play at 1 p.m. followed by the Cold Spring Indian Dancers doing an hour of traditional Seneca dancing at 3 p.m.
While the performances go on, the organizers said they plan to keep activities going during Saturday, including the eating contests and bed races, which are back again this year, as well as a new addition this year: a caricature artist.
From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, the artists will draw attendees portraits for free thanks to sponsorship from the festival committee organizers. After 4 p.m., portraits will have to be paid for.
Also new this year is a chili cook-off, which will take place Saturday afternoon. Those with a chili recipe that is unique, hot or packed full of flavor are encouraged to enter. Judges begin the tasting at 4.
After the chili cook-off judging is complete, the Porcelain Busdrivers will take the stage for the Saturday night Festival Dance beginning at 5 p.m., which will be in the park this year for the first time.
On Sunday, all are invited to a community church service at 10:30 a.m. in the park, hosted by several area churches. Vendors will then open at 11 followed by carnival rides at noon.
The highlight of the day will be the grand parade, which starts at 1 p.m. Units will head out from near the Dudley Hotel down Main Street and then up Broad Street to Triangle Park.
There are more than 20 units signed up already, but there is still time to sign up. Contact Donna Raahauge at 378-5468 or email drparades@gmail.com.
After the parade, Three of the parade’s musical units — the Hitmen, the Marilla Band and Northcoast Brass — will be performing under the tent for about an hour, playing approximately 20 minutes each.
Finally, at approximately 3 p.m., several lucky contestants have the opportunity to win some big bucks with a wind tunnel money machine, sponsored by Seneca Gaming. To have a chance to grab all you can, tickets will be sold during the weekend and drawn Sunday afternoon.
