VANCOUVER — Strongly rooted in the community, Vancouver’s legendary Old Apple Tree turns 191 this year.
Area residents are invited to come celebrate at the annual Old Apple Tree Festival, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sat., Oct. 7, at the Old Apple Tree Park, 112 S.E. Columbia Way, directly east of the Interstate 5 Bridge within the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
The family-friendly, free event offers live music, tree care workshops, Vancouver Land Bridge tours, kids’ hands-on arts and crafts, and food for purchase. The popular free apple pressing also returns to the event, and the public is encouraged to bring clean apples and containers to participate.
New on tap this year is a hard cider garden hosted by Slow Food Southwest Washington.
Four cideries will be pouring their hard ciders, according to Warren Neth with Slow Food Southwest Washington. Featured are Southwest Washington hard ciders from Tooley Bender, Battle Ground; English Estates, Vancouver; Jester and Judge, Stevenson; and Moulton Falls, Yacolt.
“Grab a glass and do some tasting or buy an Old Apple Tree commemorative growler to fill up,” Neth added. Visit www.slowfoodswwa.com for more information.
During the festival, the city of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry Commission will be giving away a limited number of tree cuttings from the Old Apple Tree.
Planted in 1826 at Fort Vancouver, Vancouver’s venerable Old Apple Tree is the oldest apple tree in the Northwest and considered the matriarch of Washington State’s apple industry. Despite floods, winds, drought, ice and snow, the tree has survived and continues to produce some fruit.
The Old Apple Tree Festival is presented by the Urban Forestry Commission in partnership with the City of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry, a Public Works Department program; Bartlett Tree Care; Slow Food Southwest Washington; and the National Park Service.
For more information about the Old Apple Tree Festival and Vancouver’s efforts to enhance the community’s trees and the benefits they bring to residents and businesses, call Urban Forestry at (360) 487-8308 or visit www.cityofvancouver.us/urbanforestry.
Information provided by city of Vancouver.
