Apple Festivals in October at UBC and RBGE

Plus Arkansas, Arendtsville, Warwick, Vermont, Springville

Oct 2, 2008 Susan Morris

Windfalls of apples greet backyard orchardists every October morning. Apple enthusiasts at Botanic Gardens and at Apple Festivals will be celebrating this month.

Apple harvest-time in October is celebrated in countries including Canada, USA and Britain where commercial apple growers and backyard orchardists work with four distinct seasons. Apples require the cold snap of winter to signal a slowing down of growth.

With every cooking apple, dessert apple, eating apple, culinary apple, regardless of the category, old varieties and new cultivars, there are thousands of enthusiasts who will bake, stew, roast, poach and eat apples with a passion.

In North America and Britain there will be major and smaller local apple festivals, apple days, apple fairs, apple pageants and apple harvest shows to celebrate the October harvest of apples.

Around the world, botanic gardens play an important education and outreach role in apple activities in October 2008:

• In Canada, University of British Columbia (UBC) Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, 6804 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia holds the UBC Apple Festival on October 18 and October 19 2008 in the Botanical Gardens
• In Britain, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in Scotland hold their Apple Day Celebration at the Botanics on Sunday 5 October and Monday 6 October 2008.

Outside the cities, apple enthusiasts who live near to apple growing areas will be spoilt for which apple festival to attend in the first two weeks of October. In America, ways to celebrate the apple harvest-time includes:

• Arkansas Apple Festival, Lincoln, AR, USA is held on Friday October 3 to Sunday October 5 with the pageant earlier on Saturday September 27, 2008
• Applefest, Warwick, NY, USA is held on Sunday October 5 and includes an apple pie baking contest
• 42nd Annual National Apple Harvest Festival, Arendtsville, PA near Pennsylvania Apple County will be held on the first two weekends of October.
• The 26th Annual Vermont Apple Festival, Springfield, VT, USA is held on October 11 and October 12, 2008. The Vermont Apple Festival was honoured as a Top Ten Fall Event in the state by the Vermont Chamber in 2007.
• The 28th Annual Springville Apple Festival, Springville, CA has a plethora of apple celebrations and sporting activities including apple pie eating, apple baking contest, Apple Run 5K, 10K and 2 mile walk plus the Annual Fat Tire Classic 7 mile mountain bike race for adults. The Springville Apple Festival is held on Saturday October 18 and Sunday October 19, 2008.

In Britain, there are many apple events held on country estates including Apple Day at the 17th century Woolsthorpe Manor house near Grantham in England on Saturday October 11 and Sunday 12 October, 2008. Morris Dancers will appear on the Sunday of the Apple Festival at the manor house and other activities at the National Trust property’s science and discovery centre include tree dressing and apple pendulum, apple tasting, apple juice tasting and the compost queen.

Apple fairs and festivals will be buzzing with apple butter stalls and contests, cider vendors, apple pie eating competitions and apple home baking contests plus some local twists on how best to celebrate national varieties of apples.

The copyright of the article Apple Festivals in October at UBC and RBGE in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Susan Morris. Permission to republish Apple Festivals in October at UBC and RBGE in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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