30th Annual Wheat Harvest Festival – August 1–2

Genoa, NY

The Wheat Harvest Festival has been an annual event in the Town of Genoa for many years. This year the town is celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Wheat Harvest Festival on Friday and Saturday, August 1-2. The festival is held at the Rural Life Museum in King Ferry, New York. It’s important to recognize that this historical agricultural community event was started by the late Gordon Cummings and the Shaw Farms. The late Eugene Shaw gave use of the grounds around the Rural Life Museum to grow the wheat and to hold the festival. The New York State Draft Horse Club has been involved in the festival since the very beginning. Over the years the festival has grown immensely. Friday night August 1 the festivities begin at 6:00 with a fun night of music with the local country band Donna and the Mystics entertaining the crowd. The Genoa Fire Department cooks hamburgers, hot dogs and hot sausage every year, and this year since it’s a “special” year the GFD will be serving fish sandwiches. There will be a 50/50 raffle and opportunities to win a door prize!

Saturday, August 2nd the fun begins at 7:00am with a pancake breakfast at the King Ferry Presbyterian Church. The popular community parade begins at 11:00am and travels down Route 90 through the center of King Ferry and onto the Rural Life Museum. There are floats of all kinds, horses, antique cars and tractors, kids’ organizations, local businesses and even a Grand Marshal! On the grounds there is a cake wheel, kid’s activities, face painting, and musical entertainment by The Steam Boiler Works community band and the local Crane Irish Dance group. There will be several vendors and crafters, and local groups demonstrating and giving out local information. The King Ferry Fire Department will be cooking a chicken BBQ dinner, and the Genoa Fire Department will be serving the hot sandwiches along with French fries! The threshing barn will be open for tours where folks will enjoy seeing and hearing about all the antique threshing and agricultural equipment used from years past. The day ends at 3:00 with the 50/50 raffle drawing and the winners of the door prizes. Come enjoy this fun family day!