Economic worries left at the gate at apple festival
Area vendors continue to do good business with large crowds at the National Apple Harvest Festival in Adams County.
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Elisabeth McGuin, 5, of Bowie, Md., digs into a candy apple at the National Apple Harvest Festival. (Karissa Zimmer/The Sentinel)
Scott Bowling of Cashtown cores and apple with a special apple device at his stand Saturday. (Karissa Zimmer/The Sentinel)
Gary Berkheimer of York orders a slice of pizza from Craig Loewen of Gettysburg at the National Apple Harvest Festival in Adams County. (Karissa Zimmer/The Sentinel)
Crowds fill the South Mountain Fairgrounds in Adams County for the annual National Apple Harvest Festival. (Karissa Zimmer/The Sentinel)
Steve Shupe of Hanover, Jason Waltz of Hanover, Kristy Walters of New Oxford and Janele Foster of Hanover work together as a team to load apples into a cider press to make apple cider. (Karissa Zimmer/The Sentinel)
The only thing on Ed Gotwalt’s mind was making sweet and salty treats.
The owner of Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum wasn’t thinking about the government’s bailout plan, economic hardships or a falling stock market. He was too busy handing out caramel apple chips, roasted peanuts and “old-time” candy at the National Apple Harvest Festival in Arendtsville, Adams County on Saturday.
Running four stands tended to take up most of his time, and it appeared that many of his customers were equally unconcerned with national economic trends, easily dishing out a few dollars for a cored gala apple covered in caramel.
“For me, it’s always been said that in bad times, candy and things like it do better,” Gotwalt said. “You can buy a bag of candy for $5 or $6 and share it with the whole family. It’s not like buying a craft item. You can also buy one apple, and we give them a dish and two forks for a couple to share. It’s a lot like comfort food.”
The Orrtanna businessman knew that he may be doing better than others given the type of business he runs, but he felt that there were many more positive things to look at in the area.
“We focus so much on the bad, but I think there’s much more good than bad out there. We just had [the “Route 30”] movie showing in York, and it was sold out,” Gotwalt said of the independent film that explored Adams and Franklin counties. “We had people there hooting and hollering during the whole thing, and they paid $7 to go see it.”
Large crowds
Similar to the York movie premiere, the ticket fee wasn’t stopping families from packing the South Mountain Fairgrounds even in the early morning on Saturday. The $8 fee seemed small for those shuffling through the gates, ready with their money or with the tickets they had purchased in advance.
School buses were transporting people from make-shift lots on farms and orchards in the area, and police and volunteers were out in large numbers directing traffic and parking. Even though it was only a few hours into the first day of the four-day, two-weekend event, the parking lots were filled, hundreds of people were filing through the fairgrounds and traffic was nearly at a standstill for Route 234 drivers.
Among all of the apple stands selling a variety of different forms of the fruit, there were also over 300 arts and crafts vendors hoping that Gotwalt’s assessment of the area was correct.
For the most part, they had to agree.
Patty Hawthorn of Biglerville was surrounded by her homemade candles in the shape of pies, bottled milk, cakes and glassware. She has been running her candle and potpourri stand for 22 years at the festival and has done so at other festivals in and out of the central Pennsylvania area.
Hawthorn noted that she does about 20 craft shows a year, and has noticed the need for some change in her business to stay on track with sales.
“Overall, I’ve had to add more items to keep up with last year,” Hawthorn said. “I started making diffuser roses made out of wood to offer something different.”
The slight change, however, isn’t something Hawthorn is worrying over, at least not in this area.
“I’ve noticed that some of the other craft shows have been struggling, but this one is as busy as ever,” Hawthorn said. “I think this is just a typical year for us.”
The National Apple Harvest Festival will continue today and will be open again next weekend.
