Small Town Celebrates With Apple And Cheese Festival
CAROLYN N. MOYER
Bradford Co. Correspondent
CANTON (Bradford Co.)
Bright red apples, shown with
brilliance under the clear, blue
sky on the second day of the two
day Pennsylvania State Apple-
Cheese Festival, striking a sharp
contrast to the previous day’s
rainy conditions.
Even with the muddy fields,
attendance totals reached 4,000
on Saturday, October 1 and sky
rocketed to 12,000 on a clear
skyed Sunday, October 2.
In its sixth year, the Apple-
Cheese Festival got its start when
a group of community-minded
citizens decided that their small
town needed something to boost
moral.
“It started with the Rekindle
the Spirit Program back in the
mid-eighties. We had some peo
ple in town interested in trying to
increase the prosperity of Canton.
We were getting very down and
not very positive. A promotion
committee was put together and
out of that committee came this
apple and cheese festival idea,”
said event chairman Beth Stiner.
“We have an older lady in town
who said she always thought it
u <ig up . display at the festival takes a lot of help.
Here Harold Landon, his grandson Cotie Strong and son
in-law Greg Strong unload apples from their truck.
Eight-year-old Matthew Thurston takes a big bite of his
candy apple while taking a break from the festivities.
would be good to have an apple
and cheese festival because we
have lots of apple orchards and
then we have the dairy industry.
And it fits...it’s perfect...and we
ran with it.”
From its start in 1988, the
event has grown steadily from
showcasing about 30 craft and
food vendors to hosting close to
175 vendors this year. In fact,
vendors must apply to be admit
ted and each year, some are
turned away.
As a special notation, this
year, the event was designated the
Pennsylvania State Apple-Cheese
Festival thanks to efforts of State
Representative Matthew Baker
and some hard working commit
tee members.
Unfortunately, tons of prepa
ration and hard work can easily
be complicated by unruly weath
er. Rain the week before and rain
all day on the opening day did
present Some problems. Howev
er, Stiner stressed, the difficulties
were overcome to the best of
everyone’s ability.
“We worked hard to get the
field read for Saturday. We
worked on it all day Friday and lo
and behold, Saturday it rained all
Jim Armory, tight, of the Leßaysville Cheese Factory offers samples of his
cheese to visitors at the Apple Cheese festival. While at the festival, Armory was
demonstrating how to make Cheddar cheese.
day- So we had to hustle again
Sunday morning to get it ready.
People literally sat in mud,” said
Stiner.
But everyone helped to get the
field back in condition, taking
turns shoveling sawdust into pud
dies to help make the area pass
able. And, judging from the reac
tion of the crowd, rain didn’t
dampen the spirit of the festival
one bit.
Pat Height, a resident of Can
ton is one of the many volunteers
who helped make the festival suc
cessful.
“I help work at the apple butter
stand. I’ve helped with the festi
val for three years. I can remem
ber whin I was a kid, coming here
to pick apples to make apple
sauce. It was a family outing,”
she said.
Besides celebrating the apple
and dairy industries, the event
also focuses on the history of the
ares.
Local historian Elwyn Kie
guided a bus tour through the
nearby apple orchards.
Sites visited included Lan
don’s Orchards, owned by Allyn
Landon; H&E Orchard, owned by
Harold and Edna Landon; the
Cedar Ledgp Orchard, owned by
Frank and Joyce Landon; and the
Rockgirt Orchards, now known
as the Davis Van Dyke Orchards,
owned by Davis Van Dyke.
“I like other people to know
what we have here. I really think
that we have an awful lot here,”
said Kie.
Each orchard has its own
unique history which was
explained by Kie as the tour bus
winded its way through the many
orchards.
According to Kie, the ground
where Landon Orchards now
stands has been in the Landon
Family since 1845, but the
orchard was not planted until
about 1912 by Benjamin Landon,
a grandson of the original owner.
Benjamin’s grandson, Allyn now
maintains the orchard, which cov
ers 75 acres. Annual yield of the
orchard is about 25,000-30,000
bushels. Recently Landon has
planted 5,700 dwarf and semi
dwarf apple “trees. The semi
dwarf varieties mature faster, are
easier to pick from and because
they can be planted closer togeth
er, yield more apples per acre.
In addition to growing apples,
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 15, 1994-817
Bruce Cavanaugh of Gillett and Katrina Hoke of
Lebanon savor their apple pie during the sixth annual
Pennsylvania State Apple-Cheese Festival.
Landon maintains an apple sort
ing, packaging and storage facili
ty and operates a stainless steel
cider making press
H&E orchard is a small
orchard consisting of about 375
trees. Each year they harvest
approximately 3,500 bushels total
of Milton, Wealthy, Macintosh,
Cortland, Macoun, Spies, Ida
Reds and Red Delicious apples.
The family has also started rais
ing some antique varieties of
apples in a new orchard.
Cedar Ledge Orchard has been
in the Landon family since the
19305. The location is also home
to a store and service station
where apples are stored and cider
is pressed year-round. Their
orchard consists of Cortlands, Ida
Reds and a yellow-green semi
dwarfed variety known as Matsu
or Crispen. Besides apples, the
Cedar Ledge Orchard also has
peach trees, and sweet and sour
cherry trees.
The final tour stop, Rockgirt
Orchards, was planted in 1909.
At this site, located in the Min
nequa Heights area of Canton the'
original owner manufactured and
sold apple butter. In addition, the
original owner, L.M. Marble,
built two cold storage facilities
which were the first refrigerated
buildings built for the preserva-
tion of fruits and vegetables.
Experiments on the effects of
refrigeration on fruits and vegeta
bles were conducted here by the
Pennsylvania State University.
The Rockgirt Orchard is no
longer a working orchard.
Back on the festival grounds,
visitors could browse through the
many rows of craft vendors and
sample just about any thing made
with apples or cheese. Among the
goodies were apple pie, apple
butter, apple pancakes, apple
sauce, candy apples as well as
many varieties of cheeses.
The event attracts people from
all over. Stiner even noted that
they have had visitors from over
seas. With its growing popularity,
more and more people are inter
ested in coming to the area.
“Last week,” said Stiner,“l had
calls from Altoona and Philadel
phia. These were people who
wanted to come to the area and
spend the night ”
A visitor from the Wyalusing
area came to leam more about the
area and about apples. Joan
O’Connor, who was traveling
witli her husband, Louie and chil
dren Jamie and Lindsey, noted
that the festival was “muddy, but
otherwise nice.” She added that
her daughter, Jamie, had to do a
(Turn to Pago BIS)