Two-day festival part of Apple Days

By Gina Petrone

As part of Julian’s Apple Days Centennial Celebration, a two-day Apple Days Festival featuring apple displays, music and dancing, an antique tractor display, children’s games and activities, gold panning demonstrations, a beer and wine garden, 50 food and merchandise vendors, contests, and, of course, apple pie. will be held at Menghini Winery on Oct. 3 and 4.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Admission is $5, with children age 12 and younger admitted free of charge.

“Today, Julian Apple Days is no longer a single day event but a full two-month celebration with a variety of daily activities,” said Tracy Turner, president of Julian’s Merchants Association. “The festival gives you a special weekend of fun.”

Smokey Bear will make an appearance, and there will be hayrides and a pumpkin patch. The coronation of Mr. and Mrs. Apple Days will take place and the winner of the Julian Woman’s Club Apple Pie Baking Contest will be announced at the festival.

Plenty of free parking is available at the winery, located at the end of Farmer Road, about two miles from downtown Julian. Last year’s festival attracted about 3,000 visitors.

A variety of other events will be be held throughout the town and surrounding areas the same 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 in Town Hall, wine tours, a Country Market at Wynola Junction Antiques, and entertainment by Julian’s Doves & Desperadoes.

Newspaper accounts estimated the crowd from 200 to 2,000. Subsequent annual celebrations would attract upward of 45,000 people.

For a full schedule of events and more information, visit www.julianappledays.com or call 760-765-4758. The Apple Days celebration is planned by the Julian Merchants Association, a community group representing approximately 90 merchants in the greater Julian area—Julian, Wynola and Santa Ysabel.