Lifestyles
Fifth annual Homesteads Apple Festival set for Sept. 27
Apples are hanging heavy on the trees, and the Homesteads Apple Festival is set to celebrate the harvest. On Saturday, Sept. 27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Homesteads Tower Museum will host its fifth annual Homesteads Apple Festival. Admission is free, with a $2 charge per vehicle for parking.
Held on the grounds of the Homesteads Tower and Homesteads Elementary School, located 4 miles south of Crossville at the junction of Hwy. 127 S and Hwy. 68, the Apple Festival sits in the heart of the Cumberland Homesteads Historic District.
The Homesteads Apple Festival is a tribute to the original Homesteaders and their wisdom in preserving the bounty of the harvest. Apples were an important food staple for the 252 families chosen to become Cumberland Homesteaders back in the 1930s. Apple harvest was anticipated with great hope of a bountiful year.
The Apple Festival offers a fun-filled day complete with fresh apples, locally made fried apple pies, apple cider, barbecue, pinto beans and cornbread, homemade baked treats, ice cream, and more.
Live bluegrass, country, and gospel music and more, performed all day by both local artists and up-and-coming Nashville singers and songwriters, provides non-stop entertainment. For an added treat, local musicians show off their talents in the Music Jammin’ Tent, and anyone can bring their own instrument and join in.
Heritage demonstrators will help bring back the days of yesteryear as they make brooms and cold soap, press cider, churn butter, mill corn, braid rugs, crochet, quilt, sharpen knives, cut and lay stone, and weave cloth. More of yesterday’s crafts will be demonstrated by a carver, a sculptor, a potter, and a pen and ink artist. Farm animals get in on the act with a mule-handling demonstration, and a cow for a milking demonstration and milkshake samples, while they last.
Some 70 arts and crafts booths offer a chance to browse and find a large variety of unique quality items. Antique tractors will be on display as well. Entertainment for the kids includes a well-supervised Kid Zone, the Art Circle Library tent where Miss Patty will host story time at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and other activities scattered throughout the festival.
For quilt-lovers, the annual Homesteads Quilt Show will be open in the Homesteads Elementary School auditorium, featuring heirloom quilts as well as more contemporary quilts. The 2008 Festival Quilt will be auctioned to the highest bidder from the Tower Pavilion at 1:45 pm. This year’s quilt, crafted by the Homesteads Quilters, is a traditional Log Cabin design. Two other quilts, also made by members of the Homesteads Quilters, will also be auctioned. For history buffs, a rare set of Homesteads scrip, the currency that was used for a period of time to pay the Homesteaders and workers on the Homesteads project in 1934, will also be auctioned.
Festival visitors can enjoy free access to the unique Homesteads Tower Museum and learn about the Homesteads’ history and why the community was named the Showplace of the New Deal. They can even climb the 97 steps to the observation platform at the top for a bird’s-eye view of the Apple Festival.
There is plenty of parking available for the $2 parking fee, with easier access than in previous years. Handicap parking is available, and a shuttle will be available from the general parking area for those who wish to use it.
All profits from the Apple Festival go to the Cumberland Homesteads Tower Association (nonprofit organization) to operate the Homesteads Tower and Homestead House Museums. For more information about the Apple Festival, call 456-9663.
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