Apple sampling and judging
Plenty of great art and craft
And lots of apples to buy!
Downtown stores have a fabulous sidewalk sale
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August 31-September 3, 2012
(Always Labor Day Weekend)
Historic downtown Hendersonville is the official home of the Annual North Carolina Apple Festival, a four-day celebration in honor of the North Carolina Apple (30-minute drive from Asheville). The NC Apple Festival features a street fair on Historic Main Street including continuous live musical entertainment, arts & crafts, apple products, special exhibits & open houses, food, and, to top it all off, the King Apple Parade. Capture the spirit of a hometown celebration that has something for the whole family, with many individual events and entertainers throughout the festival. The festival is held annually, during the Labor Day weekend.
The Apple Festival’s Street Fair covers many blocks of Main Street with more than 200 vendors. Enjoy pancake breakfasts, car shows, gem and mineral show, 8K and fun run, bike tour, apple orchard tour, apple recipe contest, sidewalk sales, arts and crafts show, and so much more!
The King Apple Parade is one of the highlights of the N.C. Apple Festival and is held on Labor Day each year with professional floats, bands, youth groups, antique cars, fire trucks and many others. The parade starts at 2:30 PM on Monday.
Please leave your pets comfortably at home, Hendersonville City ordinance prohibits animals in the event area.
North Carolina is the 7th largest apple-producing state in the nation and Henderson County is the largest apple-producing county in North Carolina. The county grows 65 percent of all the apples grown in the state. If the number of apples from a normal crop grown in the county were laid abreast, they would reach from Hendersonville to Tokyo and return. Today there are approximately 200 apple growers in Henderson County. The most widely-grown apples are Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty and Galas. In addition, many orchards grow a number of other varieties. Fresh apples may be purchased at one of the many roadside apple markets or tour apple farms located throughout the county.
Directions from Asheville: Follow I-26 to Exit 49 (old Exit 18) for Hendersonville/US Highway 64 West to downtown Hendersonville, 2 miles from I-26. Turn Left onto Grove Street, then Left on 4th Avenue. Follow 4th Avenue to entrance of Jackson Park (Glover Street) and park in designated area for shuttle bus rides on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM until 8 PM.
