35th Annual Apple Festival

     Fall is in the air, which means that northern Michigan orchards are busy harvesting bushels of fresh, ripe apples in preparation for the 35^th Annual Apple Festival taking place downtown Charlevoix on October 11-13.  Apples are Michigan’s largest and most valuable fruit crop and this year our area apple trees are full to overflowing.      

“This has been a really nice growing season for fruit farmers, and a nice growing season means high quality fruit!” said Sara McGuire owner of Royal Farms in Atwood.  “Of course there are a lot of new varieties available to consumers. In the last few years we have introduced Zestars, Candycrisp, Crimson crisp, and Dandee Reds.  We also continue to grow many of the favorite old standbys, Galas, Cortlands, Empires just to name a few!  Our most popular apple is the Honeycrisp and that crop looks great.” 

More than 30 types of apples will be on hand as well as other fall harvest items including pumpkins, mums, squash, jam, honey, maple syrup, pies, cider and more.  Warm up with hot food items such as hot dogs, soup, frites, pasties, apple flappers, and kielbasa provided by local non-profit organizations.

Our fall harvest celebration includes activities for the entire family.  You won’t want to miss the holiday art & craft show in East Park featuring 125 exhibitor booths. Head one block north to Bridge Park for the children’s activities including face painting by the Charlevoix High School Art and Performing Arts Departments, pony rides by Liberty Valley Ranch, and a petting zoo hosted by the Charlevoix County 4-H.

Charlevoix is honored to have been selected as one of the cities to be represented on the Prayer Canvas as it makes its way across America.  The Prayer Canvas is a grass-roots project to honor the Boston Marathon bombing victims and survivors. The idea is for it to be a symbol of America...big cities, small towns....every walk of life.  Every state will be represented.  The public is invited to write a prayer, message, symbol, name or paint a picture on the Charlevoix canvas which will be on display in the park during Apple Fest on Saturday and Sunday, October 12 & 13.  Once the tour has been completed, all of the canvases will be sewn together and at that point the Prayer Canvas is expected to grow to the size of a football field, if not bigger.  The Prayer Canvas will be presented to the City of Boston on the anniversary of the bombings. Each victim will receive a mounted portion of the canvas and the remainder will hopefully hang in a city building as a memorial to the heroes and victims that were impacted that day.  For more information on this initiative visit www.prayercanvasusa.com.

Judging is underway to determine the winner of the 2013 Apple Fest Shirt Design Contest.  Students from the Charlevoix High School Design Class came up with some great concepts for this year’s shirt. Stay tuned, the Chamber will be announcing the winner soon.

The Apple Fest Family Fun Run benefiting Charlevoix Kiwanis Youth Foundation is on tap for Saturday morning. The 1 mile starts at 9am; 5k starts at 9:20am. The races will not be timed and there will be obstacles along the course. The event is sponsored by Charlevoix State Bank and promises goodies, prizes and lots of fun for everyone.  Register online at www.active.com or find out more at www.charlevoixkiwanis.org.

“We love Apple Fest, said Sara. “It’s a great way to create excitement about something so important to our economy!  Having people driving in from all over the state and even flying in from around the country to celebrate our growing season is very exciting!”

Experience the magic of autumn in northern Michigan at the Charlevoix Apple Festival.  Join the festivities and show your support for our local farmers, orchards and non-profit organizations while celebrating the season in scenic downtown Charlevoix this October.  The Harvest is in!

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