One look at the bowed limbs of local apple trees, and it’s clear that the season of apples is upon northwest Pennsylvania — which also means the time has come for the annual Franklin festival that has celebrated them for the past four decades.
Applefest returns to downtown Franklin next weekend, Oct. 6, 7, and 8, and in addition to celebrating apples and the local region, this year the festival is also celebrating its 40th birthday.
“The beginning was a pie-baking contest,” said Jodi Lewis, executive director of the Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce, which puts on Applefest each year. “It’s amazing…here we are 40 years later, and look at what it is.”
And the planning process for the festival now goes virtually year-round.
“It starts in February and goes till now — it’s a forever process,” she said.
Lewis said that even though this year is the 40th anniversary, the festival will likely look much the same as it does every year.
“I don’t think we’re doing anything different,” she said. “Hopefully we just celebrate bigger.”
Since Applefest’s size is limited to what can be fit into the downtown parks and nearby streets, “we can’t really add anything,” she said. “We’re full to capacity. But even there, it’s amazing that we’ve kept it so full all these years.”
In honor of the 40th anniversary, Lewis said many of the vendors, some of whom have been with the festival virtually since the beginning, will have limited-edition items for sale.
And the apple-pie-baking contest that started it all still carries on, set squarely in the middle of the festival’s second day on Saturday, Oct. 7.
This year, pie entries will be accepted in disposable pans at the Barrow-Civic Theatre from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. that Saturday, and winners will be announced at 5:45 p.m. at the bandstand the same afternoon.
The annual apple pancake breakfast at St. Patrick School will return Friday morning, Oct. 6, and the antique car show will once again roll into town on Sunday the 8th.
The volunteers look forward to the festival year round as well, said Applefest Core Committee member Bill Weller, who has served on the committee for 30 years.
Three other committee members, Bob Miller, Jim Williams and Dave Ballard, have also served on the committee for more than 30 years, Weller said, and Miller has been there since the start.
“We look forward to it all year, and Sunday night about 9 when it’s all done, we’re glad it’s over,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s all fun, because we make it fun…it’s a wonderful group of volunteers. We’ve known each other for years.”
Lewis said “we couldn’t do it without the people who…for probably a month before, sit here and fold things, and pick things up for me that need picked up, and spend the weekend here — and their employers allow them the time off, and it just speaks volumes about this region. Community service matters.”
Other events returning during Applefest, in addition to the many arts and crafts booths and vendors, include the annual Applefest 5K Race for Any Pace, performances by many local musicians and groups, a parade by the Franklin High School Marching Band and demonstrations by the YMCA Magic All-Star Cheerleaders, farmers markets, historic tours and book sales.
Venango Regional Airport will once again hold a fly-in Saturday and Sunday, with shuttle service and complimentary breakfast for those who fly in to Applefest.
And this year, the Innovation Institute for Tomorrow will be on Liberty Street Saturday afternoon showing off its VEX robots and letting folks try their hand at flying drones, weather permitting, Lewis said.
On Thursday evening, Oct. 5, the Franklin High School Hall of Fame will hold its annual induction ceremony at the Quality Inn and Conference Center on Liberty Street.
The five inductees this year are Franklin High School graduates Dr. David L. Griffen and Joseph F. Stewart, who are being honored for their distinguished professional careers; Franklin grads Rachel Redick-Bowden and Dave Smith, who both had notable athletic careers for the Knights and then in college; and Allan Shilling, a much-respected teacher and coach at Franklin in the 1960s and 1970s.
And throughout the weekend, “School of Rock” will be showing at the Barrow-Civic Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5, 6, and 7.
A full schedule of Applefest events is available at www.franklinapplefest.com, or visit the event Facebook page, @ApplefestFranklinPA, for more information.
