Johnny Appleseed Festival to sprout again July 21-22
Dressed as Johnny Appleseed, Dale Smith, center, will be on hand at Apple Creek’s annual Johnny Appleseed Festival, scheduled this year for July 21-22 in the village.
Melissa Miller is hoping to do in these parts what John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, did here and many other places two centuries ago: plant a seed. And like Chapman, who was a missionary, Miller is on a bit of a mission.
The seed she hopes to plant is in the minds of local residents, whom she hopes will get the Johnny Appleseed Festival in the center of their consciences. The mission is to grow Apple Creek’s annual event into something a bit bigger than it’s been recently.
Miller is on the Johnny Appleseed Festival Committee, a small group overseeing the yearly Apple Creek homecoming gathering, which is set to renew itself on Friday, July 21 and Saturday, July 22. It’s an event organizers estimate drew about 2,000 visitors over the past couple years, but Miller is hoping for more.
She’s not being greedy, just hopeful — hopeful the Appleseed Festival can grow the way so many area celebrations have. Miller believes Apple Creek’s get-together has lagged behind some of the others, like Rittman’s Sleepwalker Festival and Doylestown’s Rogues Hollow Festival.
“It has,” she said. “I don’t know why. People seem to be busy. It’s kind of like a homecoming for the town. People that can see the festival, they don’t always come across the street.”
A stroke of fate may help this year. Due to a schedule conflict that would have affected a decent number of people involved in the Appleseed events, the annual festival was moved up a week. In past years it was held the last weekend of July, when Rittman’s annual event takes place.
The Appleseed Festival, as a result, faces no direct local competition this year.
The two-day fest will run Friday from 4-10 p.m. and Saturday from 2-10 p.m. with parade lineup being held an hour before the day’s festivities. Each day is packed with activities for people of all ages.
Highlights the first day include an all-day chicken barbecue and carryout while supplies last, a demonstration by the Apple Creek Fire Department, live music from Blues Mob at 6 p.m. (sponsored by BellStores), the Princess Contest from 6:30-6:45 p.m., a pie-eating contest for kids age 12 and under from 6:45-7 p.m., and bingo and a 50/50 drawing at 6 p.m.
Day two will have more chicken, another pie-eating contest from 4-4:30 p.m., the firefighters water barrel fight at 4:30 p.m., a speech from Mayor Rodney Mackey from 4:45-5 p.m., live music from Callunaw Rednecks from 6-10 p.m. (also sponsored by BellStores), and bingo at 6 p.m.
The second day will be highlighted by the annual parade, which will begin at 2 p.m., an hour later than in the past. Miller said the hope is the extra hour will give people at local businesses a bit of extra time to get ready.
The parade will feature Little Miss Appleseed — the winner of the Princess Contest. Apple Creek girls going into kindergarten through sixth grade are eligible. Those wanting to enter should email Dawn Wellman at dawellman13@yahoo.com.
All participants will receive a flower and another treat. For all instructions and details, see the Apple Creek Johnny Appleseed Festival Facebook page.
New this year will be volleyball tournaments, both girls and co-ed, and a cornhole tournament. The volleyball will run both days, with check-ins at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The cornhole tourney will be Saturday only, with first tosses at 6 p.m., sponsored by Casa di Sassi Stone.
Miller encourages people to come with chairs and spend some time watching the competition.
“My big fear is they’ll come and there’s no bleachers or not enough bleachers and they’re sitting on the ground,” she said. “Actually, I hope that’s the problem — that so many come that we don’t have room for all of them.”
One thing that’s missing from the festival and has been for several years is anything to do much with Johnny Appleseed.
“We had that issue last year, and people complained about it,” Miller said. “It’s just that time of the year, and it’s not really apple season. We’re not making apple butter; we’re not bobbing for apples.”
Miller said she and the committee are all ears when it comes to ideas for incorporating the festival’s namesake into future renewals. While there’s no requirement to make it any kind of apple-related festival, it would make sense to do so.
Miller said she also hopes more people will get involved from an organizational point of view. The committee, she said, has had a lot of turnover.
She hopes the various changes, both in dates, times and activities, will pay off this year.
“Over the past years, many volunteers have planned and executed the festival. This year we currently have a small group of volunteers. We understand that everyone is busy, but our biggest wish is for community participation,” Miller said. “Come hang out, enjoy dinner, watch the feature tournaments, visit with the community.”