Applefest 2019 draws lighter than usual crowds
Warwick. But annual celebration still enjoys a good turnout.
Warwick /
| 08 Oct 2019 | 01:28
View of South Street and food vendors looking toward the downtown area of the Village of Warwick. (
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View of South Street from Main Street.
Railroad Avenue.
Visitors enjpy all day entertainment on Railroad Green and throughout the village. (
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A popular food vendor at Applefest is Polish Authentic Food from Monroe.
Chamber staff and Applefest volunteers are on hand to offer visitors information and sell Tshirts.
Noble Pies staff (from left) Taylor McKenney and Jackie Hamilton point to the winning pie in the adult class pie baking contest baked by Jennifer Pope. The firstplace winner in the junior class was Layla Van Duyne.
Carnival rides are popular with children and families.
Martina Cedena, 8, enjoys a ride atop one of Winslow Therapeutic Center's gentle horses led from left by Winslow staff member Stacy Lenz and volunteer Kerrian Scully.
Except for the very first Applefest, which was almost wiped out by Hurricane Hugo, and an occasional cloudy or cool day, Applefest, Warwick’s largest and most wellattended event, has always enjoyed good weather
The 31st celebration of Applefest on this past Sunday, Oct. 6, enjoyed a good turnout but because it was cloudy and a little on the cool side, the crowd was estimated to be shy of the usual 30,000 or so visitors anticipated..
This year’s event played host to about 275 craft and food vendors and there was free entertainment, children’s rides, the traditional apple pie baking contest and a pieeating contest sponsored by Noble Pies.
The traditional festival has been held since 1989 to celebrate the local apple harvest.
The popular festival, produced each year by the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce, is a major fund raiser and much needed proceeds from the event are used for townwide community projects and nonprofit organizations.
In spite of the magnitude of the event, the largest in Orange County and one of the largest in the country, Applefest is surprisingly cost effective.
Members of nonprofit organizations perform numerous tasks before and after the event.
Applefest earns its keep by renting space to vendors and organizations and by sharing the amusement income with the company that provides the rides. Most of the nonprofit organizations serve food or sell retail items. And for many, Applefest is the major fund raiser for the entire year.
Although the day can be an inconvenience to some residents, the monies earned are used to support valuable services for everyone throughout the year. And many of these services would normally have to be paid with additional taxes or donations.
Roger Gavan