Apple Festival Draws 100,000, More to Unicoi County, Tenn.

Apples.
Tasty rascals.
Numerous uses.
And goodness gracious can the little ol’ apple draw a crowd.
Drive over to Unicoi County’s 32nd Annual Apple Festival Oct. 2-3 and weather willing expect to see folks crammed into downtown Erwin, Tenn.
How many folks?
Amanda B. Delp, executive director of the Unicoi County Chamber of Commerce first offered a point of comparison.
“Our county population is just under 20,000,” Delp said.
Now get this, recent year attendance figures for the apple festival.
“For the past five or six years we’ve drawn about 100,000 attendees each year,” Delp said.
Now that’s eye popping. Delp said that a number of factors have helped their festival mount such large turnouts.
“We get a lot of national recognition, spots on Knoxville and Chattanooga television,” she said. “We send out hundreds of press kits.”
Events include the Apple Festival Pageant, a four-mile run, the festival-sanctioned and the 30th Annual Blue Ridge Pottery Show. Appalachian culture oozes as if from a jar of sweet apple butter that’s wholly appetizing, which at this festival is quite available.
From a copper kettle over an open fire, apple butter made by the Unicoi County Rotary Club will be available for sale. The cost: $9 per quart and $6 per pint.
“We’ve been selling apple butter for about five years,” said Jerry O’Connor, vice president of the Unicoi County Rotary Club. “We cooked about 30 gallons the first year. Now we cook about 270 gallons of apple butter.”
Now that must be some lip-smacking good apple butter.
“Oh,” O’Connor said, “it is good!”
Apparently similar responses through the years led to the dominance of Southern gospel music at the event. About two-thirds of the acts booked to entertain fall within the auspices of Southern gospel.
Bands include The Melody Trio for Oct. 2 and The Foundations for Oct. 3.
“That’s our calling card, gospel music,” Delp said. “One of the most popular aspects of the festival is the music and entertainment, and by far the gospel music.”
Then there’s the apple.
“We’ll have apple butter, apple relish, apple pies and cakes, apple fritters, candied apples,” Delp said, “anything you can think of that involves the apple.”
Look around.
Bluegrass and gospel music emerge from and profoundly impact the region. Apples apparently do, too. Toss in art from artisans, pottery from potters from years past, and a neighborly town the likes of which perhaps many of those 100,000 simply adore.
“The Apple Festival is by far the signature event of Unicoi County,” Delp said. “It’s a source of pride for Unicoi County.”

IF YOU GO
What: 32nd Annual Unicoi County Apple Festival
When: Oct. 2-3, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
Where: Downtown Erwin, Tenn.
Admission: Free
Info: (423) 743-3000
Web: http://www.unicoicounty.org/applefest.php

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .