Parades, pretty girls, and square dancing all help to glamorize the apple, and arc popular attractions at Hendersonville’s
N. C. Apple Festival, scheduled this year for September 3-7.
King Apple Has
His Day
By W. B. WRIGIIT
Apples arc big business in Hender¬
son County, and for at least five days
out of every year they arc also the
prime inspiration and featured attrac¬
tion for North Carolina's fastest grow¬
ing fall festival.
In a state where festivals, pageants
and the like have flourished or fizzled
in greater number every year. Hen¬
dersonville's annual North Carolina
Apple Festival has the distinction of
having doubled in size. Last year an
estimated 75.000 people crowded into
Hendersonville for one or more of the
five festival days; and festival officials
will be very surprised if the 7th Annual
Apple Festival, September 3-7. doesn’t
top all attendance records.
Hendersonville is the natural home
for North Carolina's Apple Festival,
the center for a crop which in Hen¬
derson County is normally valued at
around a million dollars. The pride of
your Henderson County natives in pro¬
ducing North Carolina’s largest apple
crop is matched only by his enthusiasm
for the notable flavor of Henderson
County's apples, which when fully tree-
ripened arc said to possess a distinc¬
tive richness. It would have been
surprising if Henderson County had not
inaugurated a festival to promote its
celebrated fruit.
Never a community to do things
halfway. Henderson County got togeth¬
er a dazzling program of events that
fills five days and nights with fun for
everybody, including a beauty pag¬
eant. folk dance jamboree, singing con¬
vention. king contest, football game,
fireworks, coronation ceremonies, side¬
walk exhibits, and an Apple Festival
Parade.
The five-day harvest festivities leave
no doubt that the apple is king, and
that's part of the fun. too. Along Main
Street, booths offer apples and cider
for everybody; and you can watch
your cider being made if you like.
Businesses throughout the town com¬
pete in decorating their windows with
attractive displays of apples, and the
judging is a matter of keen interest.
Visitors arc taken on a tour of orchards
around the colorful countryside.
One of the most popular features of
the festival is the Folk Dance Jambo¬
ree. Starting at the traditional hour,
"along about sundown,'* on the first
night of the festival, the best dancing
talent of the hills provides lively en¬
tertainment for three nights in the spa¬
cious high school stadium, competing
for team and individual honors. Last
year the square and smooth-dancing
exhibitions presented over 300 perfor¬
mers.
The Beauty Pageant is also one of
the top events of its kind in the Caro-
linas. Last year 27 towns sent queens
to compete for the Apple Ouecn title
and other substantial recognition, in¬
cluding a free vacation in Florida and
a complete wardrobe. Elaborate coro¬
nation ceremonies and a mammoth
parade climax the pageant. This year’s
parade will include 32 floats. X bands,
and enough other marching units to
form a two-hour long procession.
A good showing of "name” attrac¬
tions, which have included such hill¬
billy stars as Carl Story. Clyde Moody,
and entertainers of Grand Ole Opry
fame . . . the nationally-known Black¬
wood Brothers and "the Statesmen"
quartet at the singing convention . . .
have contributed importantly to the
Festival's growing success. Radio star
'Fed Malone will be one of the honored
guests at this year’s event, and three
coast-to-coast broadcasts will originate
in Hendersonville.
The N. C. Apple Festival actually
started as an "Apple Blossom Festi¬
val." back in the spring apple blossom
season of
1У47.
The festival people
soon decided, however, that the beau¬
ty of Henderson County's orchard-
crested mountainsides was just as
impressive anti a lot more tangible
when the trees were loaded red with
ripened apples; and the annual event
was changed to the harvest season, in
September.
In addition to promoting the sale of
Henderson County's apples and fur-
( Continued on page 14)
THE STATE. August 29. 1953
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