I wish it could go on forever,' 77th annual NC Apple Fest comes to a close
by Taylor ThompsonMon, September 4th 2023, 4:27 PM EDT
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The 77th annual North Carolina Apple Festival came to a close Monday after four days of events, food and fun.
The festival chairman Mark Shephard was born and raised in Hendersonville and has been volunteering with the festival for most of his life.
He said this was his parents’ 49th year of volunteering for the festival and they always took him and his sister along to help and now they both also volunteer for the festival.
Shephard said the event to celebrate the flavorful fruit has become the largest volunteer-run festival in the state, going so far as to describe it as Hendersonville’s own local holiday.
Although thousands of people from different parts of North and South Carolina attend the festival, it’s the locals who make the magic happen, Shepherd said.
“For locals here in this community, this is truly a tradition. Labor Day is a big holiday here in Hendersonville,” he said.
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Shephard said he even knows many kids who left for college that always make it back home for the Apple Festival.
While the economic impact of the event hasn’t been studied in more than 10 years, Shepherd said the last time it was studied it showed that it brought in $13 million in just that one weekend.
The parade came to a close with the King Apple Parade early Monday afternoon.
“It’s just a huge blessing that we’ve had such a great festival,” Shepherd said.
The festival was filled with hundreds of vendors, including Danny McConnell and Liam Barrett.
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McConnell, part of McConnell Farms, had a tent set up all four days of the festival -- his 21st year participating.
While the farm provides many treats, McConnell said he prefers to keep it to the basics.
“I just like the apple, that's true. Yes, that’s right. The apples are what brought us here,” he said.
McConnell said it’s been great to see the growth that’s taken place in the festival in the years since he has been involved.
“We had more visitors now on the first day than we used to have in all four days,” he said.
Barrett and his family run a shaved ice tent at the festival.
“We like to come out here and give out shaved ice to, hopefully, make people happy,” he said.
While Barrett is from Hendersonville, he and his family moved a few years back. But he said they always make it back for the Apple Festival.
“I love just working with my family, but I also love exploring all the different vendors and I love to see everyone having such a good time,” he said.
His favorite treats are the apple cider donuts or the caramel apples.
“I wish it could go on forever,” Barrett said.
McConnell said that while he’s sad to see the weekend come to a close, they’re already getting ready for next year because it takes a lot of prep work.
“This year has really been a blessing after last year’s festival and the parade being rained out for flooding here in downtown Hendersonville. You know, the weather this year has just really been a blessing,” Shepherd said.
COURTESY OF WLOS-TV13
