Food & wine weekend: will Canadians come?

CLAYTON, New York (WWNY) – Food? Check. Wine? Check. The Great New York State Food and Wine Festival has what it needs.

But there’s one thing feared missing this year: Canadians crossing the border to visit.

“This weekend is our annual food and wine festival, and we’re really excited about it. We always have it the second weekend in June. so our vendors are getting ready to set up, and get ready for a fun weekend,” said Tricia Bannister, Executive Director of Clayton’s Chamber of Commerce.

This year, the weekend event is growing, with more craft vendors. But whether Canadians are put off by President Trump’s tariff talk and his ‘Canada as 51st state’ suggestion and don’t show up is on the minds of some people preparing for the show.

“There’s just not as much Canadian transient traffic just driving around and hanging out and coming to see us like the day trips like they used to. So everybody’s going to feel it, which stinks a little bit, so we’re just kinda hoping things work themselves out,” said Jason Merritt, owner of Merritt Estate Winery.

“What we are seeing in this part of the country especially, is we’re not seeing our Canadian visitors coming over and spending more than a day, you know, or just coming over for the day,” said Lori Randazzo, owner of Coyote Moon Vineyards.

But even though tensions are raised between the two nations, some are hopeful that things will return to normal soon.

“In this area there are so many families that are separated by an imaginary boundary,” said Tom Lawler, manager of the 1000 Islands Duty Free Store. “We’ve continued on a tradition for a long time of traveling back and forth, and I think it’s just a little bump in the road.”

“We’re hopeful that things will lighten up a little bit and they’ll realize that it’s not…us, you know it’s not us,” said Randazzo.

The food and wine festival runs until 8 PM tonight (Friday), 11 AM – 6 PM Saturday and 11 PM – 4 PM Sunday at Cerow arena.

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