Dubbed Bolognaville, USA, each year the
Yale Bologna Festival draws tens of thousands of people to the Blue Water Area, transforming the small community into a bustling hub.
Given Yale’s long-standing association with producing high-quality bologna, the festival began in 1989 as a modest community event that has become a cherished annual celebration that continues to grow and evolve.
This year, the Yale Bologna Festival will take place from July 26-28.
“It’s a huge community effort, everybody comes together to have a good time and it puts money into the community and downtown,” says Cheryl Wadsworth, festival coordinator and Executive Secretary of the
Yale Chamber of Commerce.
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Downtown Yale during the 2023 Yale Bologna Festival.
According to Wadsworth, the region was settled by German, Polish, and Irish immigrants in the early 1800s who brought their bologna-making skills with them. It became a staple in the community with entrepreneurs like Tilden J. “T.J.” Minnie, who began selling bologna from a small establishment in downtown Yale in 1906. Today, family-run business
C. Roy Inc. continues this local tradition.
“It’s been made in Yale for over 100 years,” Wadsworth says. “It started with the Minnie family and now it’s C. Roy’s … It’s been a part of us since the very beginning.”
Recognizing its 100th anniversary this year, C. Roy, Inc. was established in June 1924 and has been a part of the Yale Bologna Festival since its inception.
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Members of the royal court and the 2023 Yale Bologna Festival's King and Queen of Bologna wave to crowds during the parade.
“We just think it's great because, our small community here, it’s like a homecoming,” says Nancy Roy, who owns and operates C. Roy, Inc. alongside her husband, Dick.
Dick and Nancy Roy took over the business in 1992 from Dick’s father,
Cecil Roy, who had been involved with the business since 1936. Cecil’s uncle, Morris Knapp, was one of the original owners.
“We still do things the old-fashioned way,” Nancy Roy says. “We still smoke with our hickory smoke in our own smokehouses. We still cook it and cool it in our own cooling tanks and cooking tanks … We are still a very small company and that’s really the way we’d like to keep it.”
A proud Yale resident, Barbara Brown Stasik is the editor and co-owner of
The Yale Expositor and one of the founders of the Yale Bologna Festival.
“I helped plan the festival with my mother (Bonnie Brown) and several other wonderful business people in town that were members of the chamber,” she says. “I've been heavily involved for over 33 years, was Bologna Queen in ’04, and was the coordinator of the festival for many years.”
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A crowd gathers to watch the Big Bologna Parade as it travels through downtown during the Yale Bologna Festival.
Stasik says the festival has been a family-friendly event since the beginning.
“It just took off and people loved it because it was a true family event,” she says. “We didn't have a beer tent, we didn't have any of that. We just had pure family fun for kids of all ages and it's just grown and grown from there … Each year gets a little different and a little bigger, but the concept of family fun stays the same.”
Over the years, the Yale Bologna Festival has grown into a multi-day extravaganza filled with family-friendly entertainment including parades, contests, fireworks, and live performances. For attendees, it also offers a unique glimpse into the heart of a small town with a big spirit.
“The festival has taken on a life of its own,” she says. “It gives people a way to give back, pride in their community, and now it’s a tradition that’s three generations strong.”
Stasik also emphasized her appreciation and the strength of the partnership C. Roy’s has with the festival and community.
“They have been incredibly supportive of everything that we've done; they just work hand-in-hand with us,” she says. “One of the things that is so beneficial to our community is that it brings people in to recognize the talents and the things that we have. It's amazing to know that we're all on the same team and we’re so proud of their product.”
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Yale Bologna Festival's bologna sandwich.
A staple at the Yale Bologna Festival, Stasik also made a strong recommendation for C. Roy’s fried bologna sandwich.
“We’ve had through the years several families that have done their own bologna, but C. Roy’s still stands and they’re our supplier for the most delicious bologna sandwich in the world,” she says. “And it’s not like a bologna sandwich that you get right off the shelf; we have something special.”
Nancy Roy says what makes their product stand out is the quality of the product and their special blend of spices.
“We always make our bologna with 90% beef and we make it with bull meat because bull is leaner, more muscle to it and less fat,” she says.
In addition to the usual fun and fare, Stasik says the festival also gives the community an economic boost that supports a variety of initiatives including downtown development, beautification projects, and scholarships for local students.
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Members of the Yale band perform during the parade at the 2023 Yale Bologna Festival.
“We have a lot of other things that we give back to and the money from the Bologna Festival funds all of that,” she says. “So it 100% goes back into our community.”
Today, the Yale Bologna Festival remains rooted in the values that inspired its creation: a sense of community, small-town pride, and a love of bologna. Whether you're a regular attendee or a first-time visitor, the Yale Bologna Festival offers an unforgettable experience that celebrates the best of small-town America.
“I'm just really proud to be from a small town in Michigan and a rural area where you can really look around and you can see people care about each other,” Stasik says. “Sometimes we turn on the TV and it’s easy to lose focus on what’s important and sometimes we wonder if there are still little communities like us left and I’m just proud to say there are.”
For more information or to see a full schedule of events, visit
yalechamber.com/yale-bologna-festival.html or
facebook.com/theyalebolognafestival.