Apple Butter Festival

Pioneer families made a custom of gathering together in late fall to cook up apple butter from the last apples of the season. It was a practical way to preserve the apples throughout the year and a pleasurable way to preserve community spirit. Our annual Thanksgiving weekend Apple Butter Festival celebrates this fine old tradition, and we invite families to come up and share in it. We'll have a hands-on demonstration of apple butter making the old-time (and slow!) way - outdoors in a big copper kettle. Come learn how to "start the snitz" and "add the money", plus enjoy pioneer crafts and games, music, carriage rides, and lots more. At day's end on Saturday we'll cap off the evening just like our ancestors did - with a good old-fashioned hoedown, featuring music by Rileys Mountaineers. Chuckwagons will prepare a pumpkin stew on Saturday for the Apple Butter Hoedown. The chuckwagons will be using the apple butter we cook up to create their own unique dishes - come taste and vote on Sunday. Admission to the Festival is free; there are small fees for some activities. Apple Butter Hoedown admission includes the pumpkin stew, served up in large Cinderella pumpkins. Tickets go on sale September 5, 2009!