AppleFest back again
Published 8:53 pm Thursday, October 10, 2013
Magnolia United Methodist Church’s AppleFest is back again for its 22nd year, and the church is encouraging locals to get their fill of fresh Virginia apples and support the church’s general fund as well as domestic and international missions.
The festival will take place Oct. 26 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., but apple products and Brunswick stew must be ordered by Oct. 18. Also available on the day of the event will be a bake sale and craft show.
“We look at it as a way of greeting our community,” volunteer Tracie June said. “For the people in the church, it’s fellowship and pulling together for a common goal.”
Proceeds from past AppleFests have gone toward the Cub Scout and Boy Scout packs and troops that meet at the church, the church’s food pantry and Vacation Bible School, and local nonprofit organizations. It also goes to a mission team that visits Kentucky regularly, as well as to international missionaries.
Part of the money also goes to the church’s general fund.
Apples are fresh-picked at Virginia mountain farms shortly before they are shipped to Suffolk, and the apple cider and apple butter are also produced at those farms. The Brunswick stew is made by the men of the church.
The apples are “fresh from the mountains of Virginia,” June said. “It’s not like you buy in a grocery store, where who knows how long they have sat in a warehouse before they get to the grocery store.”
Varieties of apples available include Fuji, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Stayman, Winesap and Rome. Apples are $15 per peck, $19 per half-bushel or $32 per bushel.
Also available are regular or sugar-free apple butter for $4.50 per pint, apple cider for $6.50 per gallon and Brunswick stew for $7 per quart.
Ordering may be done at the church, 1764 Wilroy Road, from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until Oct. 18. Payment is due when order is placed. For more information, call 538-8552.