Apple Blossom Festival Draws Crowd to South Mountain Fairgrounds
BY GINGER SECRIST MYERS
Adams Co. Correspondent
ARENDTSVILLE - As sure as
spring follows winter, the first
weekend in May brings a crowd of
people to South Mountain
Fairgrounds in the heart of Adams
County’s 20,000 acres of orchards
for the Adams County Apple
Blossom Festival.
Adams County fruitgrowers,
who produce over five million
bushels of apples each year, host
the festival, which includes a
display of antique cars, square
dance and clogging demon
strations, helicopter rides, antique
engine demonstrations,
homemade crafts, apple products,
the crowning of the Apple Blossom
Queen, and of course, tours of the
orchards in all their spring finery
of apple, cherry, and peach
blossoms.
In the fall, during the first two
weekends in October, the growers
host the Apple Harvest Festival,
which celebrates the completion of
the growing season and the fruit
harvest.
The idea for Apple Blossom
Sunday started 32 years ago when
some fruitgrowers and their wives
decided to share the beauty of the
country with other people and to
host an event that would be free to
the public. At the first Adams
County Apple Blossom Sunday,
The directional sign post on
of events at the festival.
PanieHe Trestle it Adam County Apple
ARENDTSVILLE Danielle
Marie Trestle, 16, was crowned the
1986 Adams County Apple Blossom
Queen last Sunday during the 31st
Adams County Apple Blossom
Festival.
Fred Cory from the In
ternational Apple Institute was on
hand to crown the Biglerville High
School sophomore before a packed
audience in the Musselman
Auditorium. In the crowd were 24
of the previous 30 Apple Blossom
Queens.
Danielle is the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Richard Barry Trostle,
Biglerville. She is active in sports
and student government at school.
Her hobbies include hunting,
swimming, and horseback riding.
She is also a 4-H member. She will
represent Adams County in the
State Queen Contest next fall.
Also in the Queen’s Court were
first runnerup Kimberly Detwiler,
second runnerup-Cristina Hale,
dinners were provided free of
charge and free apples and apple
juice were given to visitors at
various roadsides in the fruit area
of the county.
But, while the visitors enjoyed
the hospitality, they requested
more fruit to buy and momentos to
take home with them. So, a full
scale festival was designed. In 1981
Apple Blossom Sunday became
Apple Blossom Weekend and has
been a two-day affair since that
time.
While the festival boasts a
number of perennial favorite
activities such as the crowning of
the Queen, each year the festival
committee tries to add a new at
traction. This year Mark Baron of
Washington, D.C. made his first
appearance at the festival with his
scarecrow workshop. According to
Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Baron is
the “only living scarecrow artist.”
Baron conceived the idea of the
art form while working under the
sponsorship of the National En
dowment for the Arts. With the
recognition he received from the
Endowment, Baron decided to take
his idea on the road. He now em
ploys eight other people in this
business.
At Scarecrow Workshops people
design and construct a life-sized
scarecrow. For the price of $3 per
scarecrow, the participant can
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•pie Avenue lists the variety
flower girl Sonya Heller, Marion Peters, Missy Emelet, and
ringbearer Matthew Trostle, and Sally Schulteis.
The 1986 Adams County Apple Blossom Queen, Danielle
Trostle, greets the audience.
rummage through Baron’s sup
plies to select a pair of pants, a
shirt, a pair of pantyhose for the
head, a tie, and buttons and felt for
the facial features. Straw is used
for the stuffing.
The clothes Baron uses in his
workshop are discards from
Goodwill. He uses about 10 ton of
clothes in the May to November
season that he works. He buys the
pantyhose from a mill in North
Carolina for 8 cents a pair. All
finished scarecrows are taken
home.
Another new feature at this
year’s festival was a hand-work
contest with the theme being
“apples.” Contest chairman
Sheryl Hollis Snyder said the
response was overwhelming and it
is sure to be an event that will
continue with the festival. The Best
of Show Award went to a counted
crossstitch sampler done by
Elizabeth Hortman, Biglerville.
The Best Apple Theme Award
went to an original quilt design by
Ruth Anna Policy, Fairfield.
A special highlight at this year’s
festival was the return of past
Apple Blossom Queens. Of the 30
past queens who were invited, 24
were able to return for the
coronation of the 31st Apple
Blossom Queen. Prior to the
crowning of the 1986 Queen, the
past queens judged another new
attraction at this year’s festival.
As a promotional program for
apples, the students in the Upper
Adams School District par
ticipated in an apple poster con
test. Posters from the seven
participating grades lined the east
wall of the Musselman
Auditorium. The past queens
selected winners by class. Peters
Orchards, representing the
Mountain Orchards Cooperative,
provided a 3-pound bag of apples
for each winner.
Climaxing the afternoon’s ac
tivities was the crowning of the
1986 Adams County Apple Blossom
Queen, Danielle Trostle of
Biglerville. First runnerup was
Kimberly Detwiller and second
runnerup was Cristina Hale.
Trostle will go on to represent
Adams County in the State Apple
Queen contest early next fall.
While almost everyone at the
festival was wearing a smile, a few
fruitgrowers had their festive
spirits dampened by the cold
temperatures of the previous
night. While the fruit had escaped
damage from a well publicized
cold front that had passed through
the orchards two weeks ago,
Saturday night’s cold had left a
different story.
Fruitgrower John Lott, Bear
Mountain Orchards, estimates that
5 to 10 percent of the crop was
burnt that night. Lott said: “Up
until last night we had a great
Blossom Queen
Mark Baron, scarecrow workshop director, puts the
finishing touches on a scarecrow.
Best of show in the apple theme hand work contest went to
Elizabeth Hortman, Biglerville, with this counted-cross stitch
sampler.
crop. It got down to 32 degrees and settled in. There were helicopters
in the low spots it got down to 25 up, but there aren’t enough copters
degrees. This is what it did,” he on the whole east coast to keep all
said, holding up an apple branch of Adams County’s orchards
with black spots on the stems warm. Besides, there was no warm
where there had been buds. air up there to push down.”
He explained, “We escaped Still, the general consensus
damage two weeks ago because among the growers is that this
the wind kept blowing. Last night looks like a bumper crop year for
the wind stopped and the cold all the fruits.
Franklin County Conservation District
Offers Forestry Canty Scholarship
CHAMBERSBURG - The
Franklin County Conservation
District is offering a scholarship to
attend the second session of Youth
Forestry Camp to be held at Stone
Valley Civil Engineering Camp,
Huntingdon County, near
McAlvey’s Forest, July 22 to 25.
Young people, 11 to 13 years old,
with an interest in learning about
forest resources may apply for a
scholarship. To participate in the
program, an applicant must
receive a Youth Forestry
Scholarship.
The sponsor’s scholarship is $BO
of the registration fee and the
student’s tuition is $35. The fee
covers meals, lodging, insurance
and program materials. Students
must provide their own tran
sportation to and from camp.
The camp serves as an in
troduction to basic forest
management skills, the forest
products industry and careers in
the field of forest resources.
For more information and an
application please contact the
Franklin County Conservation
District at 717-264-8074 or write to:
The Franklin County Conservation
District, 550 Cleveland Ave.,
Chambersburg, PA 17201. Ap-
plicants should complete a written
essay of 25 words or more on why
they would like to attend Youth
Forestry Camp. Application
deadline is May 23,1986.