Deal’s Orchard will host its 33rd annual Fall Festival this Saturday and Sunday at the orchard west of Jefferson just south of County Road E-53. The event draws as many as 10,000 people from virtually all parts of the state.
Those who attend the festival have come to expect wagon rides to the pumpkin patch, a petting zoo hosted by the local FFA, a haunted house manned by spooky Boy Scouts, great fiddle playing, spin art, a corn maze, caramel apples, apple fritters, apple pie, apple cider, and, of course, apples!
Apple Acres Family Fun Zone will be open, and there will be hayrides and pony rides, too.
New this year is premium ice cream from Picket Fence Creamery atop apple pie, and samples of Deal’s hard cider (for those 21 and older). Robby Pedersen of RVP~1875 will do demonstrations Saturday and Sunday, and Shannon Bardole of Little White Lye Soap and Franklin Broom Works will be there Sunday. The cider press will be running Saturday morning for those who want to see how to squeeze 40 apples into a gallon jug.
There is no admission to the fall festival, although there are charges for some of the activities. The weather forecast calls for near-perfect October weather. “We’ve had rain and we’ve even had snow, and the festival has always happened. We’re excited to welcome people to the orchard, and we’re eager for the weekend,” Jerald Deal said.
“We hope to see our friends and some new folks, too,” Cindy Deal added.
