The two‒day event will unfold simultaneously in downtown Westfield (2 East Main Street) and at the Grape Discovery Center (8305 West Main Street), offering visitors a unique blend of wine tasting, grape‒stomping, culinary competitions, live music, and family‒friendly activities.

When asked about how the Westfield Grape and Wine Festival came to be, Don McCord smiled to himself. “It’s my joke,” he said, “My wife makes me watch too many Hallmark movies.”

Explaining his joke, McCord said, “We have tried to make sure, coming out of COVID particularly, that our Main Street survives.”

McCord was at a Westfield town meeting when it was presented to him that the promotions and advertising that the Westfield Development Corporation was doing were focused mainly on the downtown businesses and not on the agriculture and industry in Westfield.

Pictured are some of our county’s delicious grapes.

Because of that he, Fred Johnson, Marilyn Hemmer and many others came up with the Festival, hoping to celebrate and benefit all of Westfield’s economic drivers.

Grapes and the grape industry, from winemaking, to table grapes, to juices and jellies, have been instrumental in Chautauqua County in general and Westfield in particular for a very long time. To the best of John Slater’s knowledge, the first wine grapes were grown and fermented in Chautauqua County 195 years ago. Slater, author of Legends of the Chautauqua-Erie Grape Belt, told of the lucky confluence of geology and climate, which made growing fruit and grapes great economic drivers in the area.

According to McCord, “Twenty or thirty years ago, people didn’t usually go away on Spring Break. Instead, families would help in the vineyards, tying up vines [and generally helping farmers]. This gave the community of Westfield a real bond.”

John Slater, in an interview, agreed. Before automation, he said, a tremendous number of man hours were used in the growth, production, and shipping of grapes and grape products. After automation, there was less of a sense of community around agriculture.

Both McCord and Slater cite the Welch company and Mogen David wines as two of the most important industries in the town. In addition to these two, three smaller vineyards are operating in Westfield: Johnson Estate Winery, Noble Winery, and Mazza Chautauqua Cellars and Five & 20 Spirits and Brewing. 21 Brix Winery and Woodbury Winery will also be participating in the Festival, as friendly neighbors.

Pictured is downtown Westfield where the festival will come alive later this week.

Lauri Lewis, Manager of the Grape Discovery Center, has been working hard to help plan many wonderful activities for children and adults at the Center. The Grape Discovery Center, at 8305 US-20, houses a museum, tasting room and a gift shop for those who would like to learn more about the region’s grape industry. There will be a train for children to ride around the Center, and Westfield Ag will be providing vineyard tours with their equipment. Each hayride-like tour will have a volunteer tour guide to provide information along the way. On Saturday, there will be music on the patio.

The Grape Discovery Center itself will have grape pies, grape slushies, grape ice cream, grape popcorn, and, of course, wine tastings for adults. Said Lewis, “We want everyone to experience the knowledge of what the grape area is about.”