Julian Apple Days Festival
An Apple Days Festival is set for October 6 and 7, 2013, at Menghini Winery, 1150 Julian Orchards Drive, Julian, California (map).
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, there’ll be apple displays, music and dancing, an antique tractor display, children’s games and activities, gold panning demonstrations, a beer and wine garden, food and merchandise vendors, contests, and, of course, apple pie. Admission is $5 for adults, with children 12 and under free of charge (bonus: the first 250 people through the gate – paid admission only – each day receive a free pie server).
There will also be a variety of other events throughout the town and surrounding areas that weekend, including an Oktoberfest at the Rabobank Parking lot on Main Street, the 13th annual Laguna Mountain Rendezvous in Santa Ysabel, the OId Time Melodrama & Olio performance at Town Hall, wine tours, a Country Market at Wynola Junction Antiques, and entertainment by Julian’s Doves & Desperadoes.
The fest is part of the annual Julian Fall Apple Harvest, celebrating the historic mountain town’s famous homemade apple pies and ciders throughout September and October. The Apple Days celebration is planned by The Julian Merchants Association, a community group representing more than 90 merchants in the greater Julian area — Julian, Wynola and Santa Ysabel in San Diego County’s eastern mountains.
In 1907, Julian apples won the Wilder Medal, the highest award given by the American Pomological Society. Ranchers wanted to celebrate and town leaders wanted to interest outsiders in Julian’s future, so preparations got underway for Apple Day. On October 9, 1909, colorful displays of various varieties of apples were set up in Town Hall, there was an all-night dance, free food, some speeches and a baseball game with Ramona. There was foot racing, rooster-pulling on horseback, and fancy riding tricks by individual horsemen.
