52nd Annual National Apple Festival

We have been enjoying apples for the last month, and this week we found we were living close to Adams County, Pennsylvania--the self-proclaimed apple capitol of the country. They have 20,000 acres of fruit trees, and about half of those are apples. So the first two weekends in October, they host the National Apple Festival. This four-day event saw rain during the other three days. So they were experiencing record crowds for the fourth and final day of the festival. At $10 per person, it looks like this is a very profitable fund-raiser. There were thousands of people there to experience the 300 vendors that were set up for business. There were crafts of all types, but at least half the vendors were selling something to eat. We stopped to watch the rows of beef briskets that were cooking over an open pit. Then they were transferred to the smokers, before they were sliced and transferred to hungry customers.

Besides brisket, we saw apple crisp, apple streudel, apple daiquiri, apple syrup, apple pizza, apple fritters, candied apples, apple cotton candy, apple cider, smoked apple sausage, applesauce, apple donuts, apple pie, caramel apples, apple bread, apple butter . . .

We enjoyed the live music, with good blue grass and some old-time rock and roll.

Like we usually do, when a good two-step song was played we started dancing. We were a little surprised that no one joined us. But we got a record number of positive comments from people walking by. Some even sought us out to tell us they enjoyed watching us dance. But when we commented that we were surprised that no one else danced, one person explained that this is the north--they are too reserved and stoic (for such foolishness). She didn't say the part in parenthesis, but we assumed that's what she meant.

We walked through the small engine display with antique motors performing unique jobs. One was making shake shingles, another sawing a log, a different one shelling corn. But we were fascinated by this simple little machine that was rotating spools of thread in such a way to braid friendship bracelets. Again, we are easily entertained as we tried to figure out exactly how it worked.

One of our favorite parts of the festival was the apple orchard tour. A skilled school bus driver negotiated the country road curves to take us beside miles of apple orchards and pretty Pennsylvania scenery.

While we were watching the hills filled with apple trees, a recorded narration described the apple growing process here in Pennsylvania. These trees start out as a common tree stock, but they are grafted or budded to become a particular apple cultivar that has proved successful here. We saw a few of the dwarf trees in our tour, but the majority of the Pennsylvania trees were the traditional size.

The narration also described how beautiful these trees are in the spring when the apple blossoms cover these hills. They tempted us to return to this same location in April for the Apple Blossom Festival.

This was the 52nd annual Apple Festival, and we could tell the organizers had learned how to handle large groups over those years. Volunteers directed us to park in large open fields on local farms, and then we were transported to the fair grounds by school buses. At one time we counted 17 buses at one place, with more running the route to pick up more passengers. There were also plenty of hay bales to sit on for concerts, and the entertainment was first-rate.

After being immersed in all things apple at the festival, we had one more stop of the day. The Round Barn Market is just down the road, and we had been told not to miss it. 

They were having a great business day, even with the festival going on today. Even though we still have apples in the refrigerator, Denisa was somehow worried that we might not have another opportunity to buy such fresh fruit down the road. So we purchased another peck of just-picked apples in a combination of Jonagold, Summer Crisp, and Crimson Crisp. They are so crispy and so juicy!

They go nicely with the apple butter and apple jelly we also bought at the apple festival. We might be sick of apples by the time we really travel out of apple country!