By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(July 30, 2026) The annual Peach Festival returns to the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum this weekend with vendors, entertainment, and treats inspired by the fruit that once fueled the Town of Berlin’s culture and economy.

On Saturday, Aug. 1, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Taylor House is hosting the Peach Festival, an event that has brought thousands of attendees to the museum’s lawn for nearly 20 years.

Taylor House Museum Executive Director Melissa Reid said the fair attracts about 4,000 people each summer.

Aligned with the day’s theme, the festival will feature peaches for sale from Mid-Atlantic growers and food with a peachy twist from a variety of vendors.

Worcester County and Maryland’s ProStart Teacher of the Year, Chef Phil Cropper, is slated to demonstrate his take on fruit dishes. He will also have comestibles created and bottled by his culinary students from Worcester Technical High School on hand.

Reid said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taylor House has switched up the kinds of vendors they invite to the Peach Festival. Before 2020, jewelry artists, pottery creators, and similar crafters sold their products. Now, however, the event prioritizes those whose items cannot be found at a shop or restaurant in downtown Berlin.

Reid maintained that this move encourages visitors to patronize the town’s small businesses and prop up unique, lesser-known dealers and nonprofits.

“We realized after COVID, we wanted to make sure that if people were coming to the lawn for the Peach Festival, we wanted to send them up into the town to take their dollars and spend them locally in the shops,” she said. “We really dialed back on our retail vendors, and we have focused more on different kinds of vendors you can’t get in downtown Berlin…And we hope that sending people into Berlin makes it a great day for the merchants.”

For example, on Saturday, festival goers can expect to find flowers from Bay Street Blooms and treats from Sweet Addictions. Additionally, members of the Purnell Cemetery Foundation are offering guests barbecue chicken.

According to a press release issued by the event’s organizers, the Peach Festival will begin with a presentation of the colors by members of Berlin’s American Legion Posts. Guests may spend the afternoon observing the demonstrations, displays, sales, vendors, and information tables.

The event is family-friendly with activities for all ages. Face painting and kids’ games will be available for the younger attendees. For those looking for some whimsy, Magic Jack is set to perform impressive and captivating feats and tricks. Jack’s showtimes are 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

A peach-based baking contest will test which amateur chefs have the most pastry prowess, and a pie eating contest, with day-of registration available, will see who can scarf down a mini treat the quickest. Attendees will also have the chance to guess how many peach pits are in a jar. All competition winners will receive prizes.

Furthermore, musical performances by the Bilenki Duo and the Berlin Airlift are planned for Saturday’s celebration.

While the peachy fun is outside the Taylor House, museum operators encourage visitors to come to tour the inside of the historic 1832 property.

Reid said the Peach Festival is the Taylor House’s largest fundraiser.

“There are no other fundraisers or events that we do that come even close to the Peach Festival,” she said. “For us, it’s crucial…Every dollar that gets spent on the lawn of the Taylor House during the Peach Festival goes right back to helping us stay open and telling the stories of Berlin.”

Reid added that this year’s Peach Festival T-shirt designs have a local tie-in. The executive director said that one of the shirts was created by a Worcester Technical High School student, and a Salisbury University graduate created another.

“This year we branched out, and instead of sourcing a design and paying somebody or looking through stock designs, we’ve been working with local, young artists to showcase their work,” the museum director said. “If people buy a Peach Festival T-shirt, they should make sure they actually buy it on the lawn at the Taylor House.”

The fruit festival has been held in Berlin for the past 18 years to honor the town’s history as a powerhouse in the country’s peach industry. For about 50 years, from around the 1890s until the 1940s, the Berlin-based Harrison Orchards not only dominated the United States’ peach market but was also the largest mail-order fruit orchard in the world.

The farm created between 250 and 500 jobs in and around Berlin depending on the season and grew various produce in addition to peaches.

The fruit nursery no longer exists. However, Harrison’s home, Windy Brow, or otherwise called the Orlando Harrison House, is still situated near Berlin’s railroad tracks.

Admission to the event is free, and more information is available on the Taylor House’s website at www.taylorhousemuseum.org. The Berlin Heritage Foundation sponsors the annual Peach Festival.