For Kim Jesik of St. Catharines, her annual trip to the Ball’s Falls Thanksgiving Festival was a little different.
“It’s the first year here without my mother,” Jesik said as she browsed through the wares of vendors on the opening day of the four-day festival.
“We’d usually come here on the Sunday. We stuff the turkey in the oven then we’d be here. It’s bittersweet.”
Friday was the opening of the festival, now in its 50th year. Leilani Lee-Yates, who just last month was named chief executive officer for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority said the festival is a way for the authority to connect with the community while experiencing what sites like Ball’s Falls, and others operated by the NPCA offer.
“It’s a chance for us to welcome thousands of visitors to experience the natural beauty we work so hard to protect,” she said. “As it offers a unique way for us to engage directly with the public.”
To celebrate the festival milestone, extra entertainment was added to the Saturday program featuring the Red Hill Valleys and Tebey.
The event also featured more than 150 artisan vendors, food trucks, games, face painting, pony rides and more. Visitors could also check out the heritage buildings located on site and take in demonstrations, including one by the Niagara Handweavers and Spinners as well as a birds of prey demonstration by the Niagara Raptor Conservancy.
Victoria Rylands of Niagara Falls and her family were back at the festival for the first time in a few years.
“We haven’t been since just before COVID,” she said as she watched her son, Nolan, attempt to remove a block from a Jenga towner without it falling over. “It’s nice to come and see it again. We really love the atmosphere.”
The festival – along with the Marshville Heritage Festival in her hometown of Wainfleet – is a must-attend for Cari Dean of Wainfleet. Her apple fritters, made on site, are a popular item.
“I’ve been making apple fritters since I was 16,” she said. “That’s 34 years.”
She and team members were busy deep-frying the treats Friday and it’s something that will go non-stop all weekend.
“We make thousands a day,” Dean said.
There was also a special ceremony held as a part of the festival’s opening where the Town of Lincoln has designated the conservation area a historical and heritage site.
Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton referred to Ball’s Falls as “one of the primary and very, very important historical areas” in the town.
She said the designation is not just preserving heritage buildings.
“When we designate a property, we’re not just preserving bricks and mortar, we’re publicly acknowledging its heritage value to our community,” she said.
What is now the conservation area was once home to the Ball family, notably Jacob Ball, a United Empire Loyalist who settled in what is now Lincoln in 1782. Still standing within the park are the original Ball family home, an operating grist mile, a lime kiln, a restored church, a blacksmith shop, and a carriage shed.
