Ask a longtime resident where Stony Creek Metropark is, and most will say Shelby Township. That's the address on the sign, 4300 Main Park Rd, and the number people dial has a Shelby Township exchange. Ask the same person where the peach festival happens, and the answer is faster: Romeo. It's been Romeo since 1931.
Both answers are only half true. Most of the park's acreage sits inside Washington Township, and a working piece of the peach festival, the part that actually grows the peaches, operates out of a Washington Township address, not a Romeo one. The township keeps getting left off its own credits.
The Park With Someone Else's Address
Stony Creek Metropark covers more than 4,400 scenic acres of woodland, wetland, and tallgrass prairie around a 500-acre lake formed by damming Stony Creek. According to the park's own geographic record, the land is predominantly split between Washington Township and Oakland Township, with only a small sliver reaching into Shelby Township, the township whose name shows up on every piece of mail the park sends.
There's a second surprise built into the elevation. The park office sits at 875 feet, high enough that on a clear day you can see downtown Detroit, 26 miles south. That height gets misattributed too. It is not the highest point in Macomb County. That title belongs to Trombley Mountain, inside the Ford Proving Grounds in Bruce Township, at 1,150 feet. Stony Creek just happens to be the high ground people actually visit.
If you live inside Washington Township's borders, this isn't trivia. It means the acreage you drive past on your way to the beach, the trail loop you run three mornings a week, and the woods behind the nature center are not on loan from a neighboring township. They're yours, even if the return address disagrees.
Eastwood Beach Still Has Two Fridays Left
The park runs a free concert series on select Friday nights at Eastwood Beach, one of two swimming beaches on Stony Creek Lake, the other being Baypoint. No tickets, no reservations, just a lawn chair on the sand from 7 to 8:30 p.m. This year's lineup has moved through a run of tribute acts and party bands:
- June 14: Gridiron and Friends
- June 28: Motown Eagles, an Eagles tribute
- July 12: Ashley Lynn Experience, country with a twist
- July 26: Persuasion
- Aug. 9: Itchycoo Park, a Woodstock-era set
- Aug. 23: Kris Kurzawa's Led Zeppelin Experience
Tonight is next up on the schedule. The season's actual finale lands Aug. 23, which leaves one more listed show after tonight before the beach goes quiet for fall. Neither night requires you to leave the township to enjoy it.
The Trail Doesn't Care About the Boundary Either
The Macomb Orchard Trail runs 23.5 miles along a former rail line connecting Shelby Township to Richmond, passing through Romeo and Armada along the way. It's flat, paved, and lined with working farms for most of its length, which is a big part of why it's popular with cyclists who have no particular interest in Romeo itself.
For someone starting near the Rochester end, at Dequindre Road and 24 Mile, the first orchard stand shows up quickly. Verellen Orchards sits about a tenth of a mile north of where the trail crosses Van Dyke Road. Push another mile and the trail hits 30 Mile Road, where a marked 0.3-mile spur breaks west to Westview Orchards, a sixth-generation farm still running pick-your-own apples, peaches, cherries, and strawberries depending on the week, with a cider mill that starts up once the leaves turn.
None of that requires a drive into Romeo village. Washington Township maintains its own access points along the trail, including a trailhead with parking and restrooms, according to the township's recreation page. The orchard everyone associates with a Romeo festival is a bike ride from a Washington Township parking lot, not a drive from one.
The Peach Festival's Orchard Tent Never Left Washington Township
The Romeo Peach Festival turns 95 this year, running Thursday, Sept. 3 through Labor Day, Sept. 7. The tradition traces back to 1931, when Macomb County's stone fruit orchards were producing more peaches than the surrounding markets could move, and a harvest celebration doubled as both an outlet for the crop and publicity for it. The festival now draws an estimated 25,000 visitors across those five days, organized by the Romeo Lions of Northern Macomb County.
Most of what people picture when they hear "Peach Festival" does happen inside Romeo's village limits, according to the festival's own published schedule. The children's parade moves down Main Street. The bed races run from East Lafayette Street north to St. Clair Street. The carnival sets up at Romeo Lions Field on East Washington, and the gourmet food pavilion, with vendors like Sugo Boyz Italian and K-Block's BBQ, operates out of the Lions Clubhouse next door.
But the agricultural anchor, the reason the festival exists at all, sits outside the village. From Thursday through Labor Day Monday, the Westview Orchards Market and its Peach-y Treats Tent run 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 65075 Van Dyke, with award-winning donuts, peach flips, pies, peach products, and pressed cider. Starting Saturday, that same address adds a Fall Family Fun Kickoff, U-pick apples, wagon rides, a straw bale maze, a petting farm, and a new corn maze built around a Lainey Wilson theme this year.
That address is Washington, not Romeo. The orchard doing the literal peach-growing that gave a 1931 harvest festival its name sits inside township lines that rarely make the marquee.
How to Actually Use the Next Three Weeks
A few ways to close out August without leaving the township for the parts that matter most:
- Ride the trail spur to Westview Orchards before festival week, when the U-pick rows are less crowded and the cider mill hasn't started its Labor Day rush.
- Catch the Aug. 23 season finale at Eastwood Beach, the last free Friday night before the concert series ends for the year.
- If you're heading to the Peach Festival over Labor Day weekend, start at the Westview Orchards tent on Van Dyke before working toward the carnival and parades in the village. You'll skip the worst of the festival traffic and still get the peaches first.
Washington Township has spent decades sharing credit with Shelby Township and Romeo for land and traditions that are, geographically, its own. That's not a complaint. It's just worth knowing if you already call this place home, and it's worth remembering the next time someone asks you where the good stuff actually is.
For a longer look at what makes Washington Township distinct beyond one late-summer stretch, our Washington neighborhood guide covers more of the everyday texture here, and our Oakland Township guide picks up the other side of Stony Creek's boundary line.
If you're weighing a move in this part of Macomb County, or just want a market read from someone who actually rides these trails, BAS Group Real Estate is a phone call away. Let's Connect.
