National Apple Harvest Festival

This weekend was gray, gloomy and verging on cold, but that didn’t dampen the crowd at the National Apple Harvest Festival just outside of Arendstville PA. Hooded sweatshirts, with the hoods pulled up, were the clothing item of the day, and likely more than a few people wished they'd had gloves.  After two days of warm, fall weather a 20 degree temperature change made the day feel more like November than early October.

Apple Harvest is my favorite festival, and much of that has to do with the fairground. Nothing about the grounds is modern, and festival-goers walk around the pines to visit the vendors and food stands, which are abundant.  You can watch cider and apple butter being made the old-fashioned way, with steam engines ranging in size from this little one to those the size of locomotives.

If there’s anything made with apples that isn’t sold here, I don’t know what it would be. Apple sausage, apple butter, apple sauce, apple jelly, apple pancakes are just a few. You name it. If apples are in it, someone’s probably selling it at the festival. Held the first two weekends of October, the festival has been in existence most of my life, though it hasn’t been the National Apple Harvest Festival all that time. Adams County PA, where the festival is held, has long been known for its apple orchards, and it was a few of those growers who got together and started the festival about 50 years ago.

The festival has grown so much since the early days that now more than 300 vendors take part, and the shuttle bus system that brings people up the narrow mountain road to the fairgrounds is the best organized I’ve ever seen. I like to go early on Sunday mornings, as I think that’s when the festival is less crowded. People come from all over the mid-Atlantic states to visit.

This year I got a few Christmas gifts at the craft vendors and ate some really good festival food, which in my mind always tastes better for being cooked outside under the pine trees anyway. The difficult part is deciding what I'm going to buy because I wouldn't even have room just to sample it all. 

Good times at Apple Harvest Festival

National Apple Harvest Festival

The past weekend I made my nearly annual visit to the National Apple Harvest Festival in Arentsville, Pennsylvania, which is just north of Gettysburg.  You should pronounce the first part of the town like the word “aren’t.” It’s one of the few big fairs that I like to attend regularly.

I love the fairgrounds, which look like something from the 1930’s. It’s nestled against the mountains. Nothing is paved. Mature pine trees are spread throughout the grounds. The food is outstanding. (Well, I guess that’s not unusual for a good fair.) I always look forward to this fair and this year’s version did not disappoint.

The festival is always held the first two weekends in October. I try to get there as soon as it opens on a Sunday. I never go on a Saturday. Those are always crazy-busy. Unfortunately, more and more people are learning that early on a Sunday morning is the least crowded time for this very busy fair, so even then is no longer very uncrowded.

The weather this past weekend was great, which no doubt added to the crowd but that’s how it goes. Did I mention the food? Apple this and apple that—from sausages to pancakes to funnel cakes and of course, all the more usual apple goodies. I need to start a diet ASAP.

Apple Harvest Festival

My big excitement this weekend wasn’t around the cabin for once. I went to the National Apple Harvest Festival in Arendtsville (pronounced like arent’s ville). The festival has been around for ages, though it’s only recently been named the National Apple Harvest Festival. I’ve always loved it, because it’s set in an old fairgrounds among mature pine trees at the base of a mountain. The pavilions all look as though they were built in the 30’s, and it’s like stepping back into a long-past time.

I’ve avoided attending for several years because the festival has grown so popular and crowded that I haven’t enjoyed it as much. But I’ve missed going, so this year I decided to brave the crowds and go anyway. Even so, my plan was to hit the craft and food booths early on Sunday, eat lunch and then leave in the hopes that I would avoid the worst of the crowd. I didn’t actually avoid the crowds, but my plan worked pretty well, overall.

The food booths are spectacular. You can get apple dumplings, apple crisp, apple pizza, funnel cakes, soft pretzels, cider, homemade soda and who knows what else? I only ate my way around about half of the fair. I think I won’t wait so long to go back again.