“When we leave the car show, we go out to Kimmel Orchard to get some of their delicious apple cider donuts,” Holmes said. Holmes and her husband enjoy attending the car show each year and seeing the beautiful, interesting cars. “It’s fun to see families enjo ying the orchard with their kids and maybe carrying on the tradition they had with their parents, who they might have had with their parents in the past.” “Every year they’re adding more, and this year they really outdid themselves,” Holmes said. Every year, she makes sure to attend the parade to see the marching bands and go out to Kimmel Orchard to enjoy the donuts and wine. Pat Holmes, resident of Nebraska City for the last 50 years, has been attending the AppleJack Festival almost every year since she got married and moved to town when she was 27 years old. “We are the largest orchard in the whole state of Nebraska. “There has been an evolution, but the tradition is really just to visit the orchard,” Weyeneth said. The Kimmel Education and Research Center was built, the apple barn was created, the original food stand was expanded so guests could see the cider being made and bottled, and there was more retail space to sell the apples and other products. Over the last 25 years, significant changes have occurred within the orchard. A lot of people say they used to come to the orchard with their grandparents.” “Just this last weekend, one gentleman told me he had been coming for 50 years. “There’s a lot of history, a lot of people who come to Kimmel Orchard have been coming for many years,” Weyenth said. “Compared to years past when it used to be a small fruit stand on the corner, we now have U-pick always during AppleJack, which is one of the main differences between AppleJack and the other weekends in the fall,” said Len Weyeneth, president of the Kimmel Orchard and Vineyard Educational Foundation. The orchard has become an immense experience for customers and their families. In two days, alongside the apples, 1,153 gallons of apple cider, 905 caramel apples and 2,577 apple donuts were sold. The orchard started off as a small fruit stand selling apples on the corner during the festival, and now they are selling 19,608 pounds of apples just within the first weekend of AppleJack. Kimmel Orchard, located in Nebraska City, has participated in the AppleJack Festival every year since it started. That is why our orchards and businesses are such great partners for that.” “When you come to town, you get the festival experience no matter where you go. “We would not be able to entertain that many people if every one of our businesses downtown or orchards didn’t do something special for AppleJack.’ All of our restaurants have AppleJack specials,” Allgood said. The orchards provide an intimate and genuine experience for people and their families who attend the festival. “Everybody plays nice and makes sure that you get a really good experience at each orchard,” Allgood said. The board of directors at the city orchards work cohesively as a group to plan how the festival will go so they do not overlap events. It was just that feeling in the air of a festival, and it was just right in town. I would march in the parade and get to go to the carnival. “I’ve always loved going to AppleJack as a kid,” she said. Her job is in charge of marketing and coordinating the festival. “They all totally step up their game.”Īllgood was born and raised in Nebraska City, went to Lourdes Central Catholic and has attended the AppleJack festival every year since childhood. “We couldn’t have an apple festival without the orchards,” said Amy Allgood, Nebraska City Tourism and Commerce executive director. The festival offers many events and activities throughout the weekends that have been going on since it started, including a parade, carnival rides, flea markets and craft fairs, water barrel fights, car shows, bull riding, vendors and entertainment at the orchards.īusinesses across the city get into the spirit of the festival, especially the orchards. The festival brings people from across the state and surrounding states such as Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. The AppleJack Festival in Nebraska City attracts nearly 120,000 people for two weekends every September, with this year recording the largest opening day in the history of the festival. The annual event has become one of the biggest tourist attractions for Nebraska in the fall, and it continues to grow. Nearly 20,000 pounds of apples were sold in the first two days this year. Fifty-five years ago, Nebraskans came together for the first time to celebrate ‘AppleJack,’ an event to highlight the apple harvest.įive and a half decades later, the traditions of the AppleJack Festival live on. In the birthplace of Arbor Day, people bought apples from a little stand on the corner while children raced go-karts and rode carnival rides.
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