Festival is as American as apple pie

It’s not too late to bake an award-winning apple pie for the 33rd annual Vermont Apple Festival, which will be held Saturday in Springfield.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151009/FEATURES03/151009810

Published October 9, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Festival is as American as apple pie By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — It’s not too late to bake an award-winning apple pie for the 33rd annual Vermont Apple Festival, which will be held Saturday in Springfield. The festival celebrates all things apple, with the apple pie contest, an apple pie eating contest, cider pressing and other fall events, said Caitlin Christiana, the new executive director of the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce, the organizer of the Springfield Apple Festival & Craft Show. Christiana said the festival, which is held at Riverside Middle School, will feature more than 60 different vendors in the gymnasium, cafeteria and outside grounds, and many activities for children. “It is never too early to start your holiday shopping,” she said. Christiana said that people can register their apple pies as late as 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Bakers are asked to include a list of ingredients used in the pie, and the pies become the property of the Vermont Apple Festival. After the pie contest cash prizes are awarded, slices of the award-winning pies will be sold. The apple pie judging will take place at 1 p.m., and one of the judges this year is Miss Vermont, Alana Westcom, the self-proclaimed “science nerd” who performed a simple chemistry experiment for her talent portion of the Miss America contest. Miss Vermont will be available to pose for photographs, Christiana said. Christiana said that one of the more popular events is a pie-eating contest for children at 3 p.m., with small pies. The kids even have to get the pies out of their boxes without their hands, she said. Earlier in the day, there will also be a doughnut eating contest for the kids at 10 a.m., and a race for the “fastest kid” at noon. The festival is the main fundraising event for the chamber, said Christiana. The festival is free and open to the public, and there are a lot of kid-friendly activities, including rides, pony rides and puppet show performances. Christiana said that the chamber was starting a new “Vermont Sampler” section at the show to feature locally-made goods. She said there were many returning craftspeople and food vendors, and some new ones as well. For more information, http://www.springfieldvt.com/apple-festival.htm.