For Immediate Release Media Contact: Pam Jones or Marjorie Beenders
September 23, 2010 Phone: 573-636-8282 « Email: pam@tbwgroup.net
Fall Festivals Are All About Apples
at Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks
LAKE OF THE OZARKS, MO - Autumn means apples and two family-friendly festivals will salute this versatile, all-American fruit in October at Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks: the 31st annual Old Tyme Apple Festival in Versailles, Saturday, Oct. 2, and the 14th annual Apple Butter Days Fall Festival in Linn Creek, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 8-9.
“Fall at the Lake of the Ozarks offers a spectacular backdrop of nature’s finest scenery. Seasonal events such as our apple festivals offer two great reasons to relax with family and friends and enjoy the fall apple harvest,” says Jim Divincen, executive director of the Lake-area’s Tri-County Lodging Association.
As the city of Versailles turns 175, the Old Tyme Apple Festival, which typically attracts 30,000-plus visitors, will celebrate with the theme, “American As Apple Pie.” Appropriately, one of the event’s highlights will be the apple-pie baking contest; entries will be accepted on Friday, Oct. 1, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Morgan County Courthouse. Winners will be announced the next day at noon, followed by a lively apple pie auction, at Monroe and Jasper Streets. The Apple King and Queen will be crowned at 5:30 p.m., Friday, at the courthouse, and the Baby Dumpling and Apple Dumplin & Darlin contests will be held starting at 6:30 p.m., Friday, at the First Baptist Church.
Many of the 100-plus entries in the always anticipated Apple Festival Parade, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, will be decked out in bright red apple finery. The parade, departing from Brown Road at Hwy. 52 and winding through downtown Versailles, will include more than 80 floats, plus clowns, bands, horses, classic cars and much more; it usually lasts about one and one-half hours. Jim Dykzeul, president of the Versailles Area Chamber of Commerce and festival chairperson, says, “You will see endless hours of labor transformed into beautiful and unique floats.” The Grand Marshals, “Buzz” (Virgil) and “Buddy” (Vallie) Lujin own Carpenter-Guenther Lumber Company; established in 1944, it’s one of the city’s oldest operating businesses.
Naturally, apples will be prominently featured among the 450-plus food and crafts vendors who will set up shop from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in downtown Versailles. Other delectable food will be available at the Pancake Breakfast, starting at 6:30 a.m., Saturday, at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, and at the German Dinner at 11 a.m., Saturday, at Grace Lutheran Church.
By popular demand, a competition to create large, three-dimensional apple sculptures by regional artists and artisans will return to the Apple Festival for the second year. Last year’s winning sculpture by welder Ric Davenport—a two-foot by two-foot, three-dimensional apple fashioned of aluminum--will be installed on a four-foot concrete at the Chamber’s “mini-orchard” at the junction of Highways 5 and 52. Prizes will be $250 for first place, $150 second place, $75 third place. “I hope we have started something with this competition,” Dykzeul says. “I’d like to see these sculptures incorporated into Versailles’ everyday landscape.”
And there’s more:
On Friday:
- Car enthusiasts will enjoy the Apple Bash & Car Cruise at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Sock Hop at the B&B Drive-In.
- A “Burnout” contest, in which drivers spin their wheels to create the largest amount of smoke, is set for 7 p.m. at D&R Auto.
On Saturday:
- Wake up early for the 5K and Super Senior 5K Runs (7 a.m.), the 2-Mile Walk (7:15 a.m.), and the half-mile Kids Fun Run (8 a.m.), all at Versailles High School.
- At 9 a.m., the Kids Fun Zone will open at 9 a.m. on North Monroe Street and the Tractor & Engine Display will open on Newton Street.
- A juried Quilt Show will be on display at the Hunter Civic Center from 12-5 p.m.
- The fascinating circa-1877 Morgan County Historical Society Museum will offer discounted tours, 12-4 p.m.
- The Big Boys Toys Car Club will sponsor its popular annual Car, Truck and Motorcycle Show at Versailles City Park; registration will start at 8 a.m. and awards will be presented at 4 p.m.
- And the annual Tractor Show, starting at 8 a.m. at Ozark Wheels, will bring together some of the area’s best antique and collectible tractors.
Theatre and music also will be offered in conjunction with the festival. “White Christmas,” the musical based on the beloved 1940 holiday song by Irving Berlin, will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23 through Saturday, Sept. 25, at the historic Royal Theatre, with follow-up performances Friday, Oct. 1 and Saturday, Oct. 2; tickets will be $10 for adults, $5 for children and students. The roots and rockabilly band Rumblestrip will be featured on the main stage from 11 a.m.-12 p.m., and 1-5 p.m. Other country, gospel and blues bands will perform on several stages in the downtown area throughout the day. A crowd-pleasing Fiddlers Contest also will be held at 1 p.m. at the Royal Theater; admission will be $1. This judged event attracts fiddlers from all over the region, including children and old-timers.
The festival’s grand finale will be a Compact-Car Figure 8 Race and “Tuff” Truck Challenge, both offering cash prizes, at 7 p.m. Saturday, at the Morgan County Fairgrounds, sponsored by the Versailles Lions Club. A 3-Person Scramble Golf Tournament at Rolling Hills Country Club will wrap up the weekend, starting at noon on Sunday.
Shuttles will provide transportation from parking lots to festival event sites for just $1 for all day Saturday.
“Our wonderful Old Tyme Apple Festival is the best mix of entertainment, awesome food and so much to see and do for everyone age 1 to 101,” Dykzeul says. “There’s just no way you won’t have a great time. And best of all, the price is right—free!”
Buy a Batch of Apple Butter
A lot of people are convinced that Ozarks-grown apples add a special, delectable flavor to apple butter and apple pies. Find out for yourself at the 14th annual Apple Butter Days Fall Festival, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Oct. 8-9. There’s no admission charge for this homespun happening that takes place at the Camden County Museum, located on V Road just off Highway 54 in Linn Creek.
Visitors can watch—or help—volunteers stir the big copper kettle in which apples and sugar simmer for hours on the way to becoming mouth-watering apple butter, just as it’s been made in the traditional manner through the ages. “It’s a very time-consuming process that usually requires up to a dozen bushels of apples, or more,” says Daphne Jeffries, president of the Camden County Historical Society. “We can always use extra hands to help stir the kettle!” A pint of delicious Ozarks apple butter will sell for just $5; sugar-free apple butter also will be available. And be sure to take home a fresh-baked, made-with-love Dutch apple crumb-top pie or two (including some sugar-free) for $10 each.
Stop by for lunch, featuring home-made chili and soups plus old-fashioned corn bread and irresistible desserts, all for just $5. An array of booths will offer seasonal and holiday decorations, crocheted and knitted items, home-made jellies, woodcrafts, jewelry and more. Typically a bluegrass or folk musician or both provide entertainment.
Two beautiful handmade quilts, donated by friends of the Historical Society, will be raffled at 4 p.m. Saturday. All proceeds will go toward the upkeep of the unique Camden County Museum.
Throughout the festival, Historical Society volunteers will be available to answer visitors’ questions about the fascinating Camden County Museum. In this former circa-1930 schoolhouse, each “classroom” is like a mini-museum, including the Pioneer School complete with a genuine dunce cap, a vintage office and bank, scary-looking antique medical equipment donated by local doctors, old-fashioned household items and furniture, tools from the past, Civil War memorabilia, Osage Indian artifacts and other intriguing collections.
“We don’t change much about the festival from year to year because people love it the way it is,” Jeffries says. “We invite everyone to come enjoy a wonderful fall day with us at our historic schoolhouse.”
Adds TCLA’s Divincen, “Come celebrate this beautiful season and stay at one of the Lake’s 1,500 plus campsites, a romantic bed-and-breakfast, or one of the many fine resorts or condominium rentals, both on and off the water. And don’t forget to pack your golf clubs and fishing poles, or take the family hiking on one of the area’s 22 hiking trails. Come re-connect with the family or friends during one of the most beautiful times of the year at Central Missouri’s incredibly beautiful Lake of the Ozarks.”
For more details about the Old Tyme Apple Festival in Versailles or the Apple Butter Days Fall Festival in Linn Creek—as well as more information about lodging, dining, shopping and attractions at the Lake of the Ozarks-- please call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitors Bureau at (800) FUN-LAKE or visit www.funlake.com. # # #
Note to News Media: For your convenience, you may download an electronic version of this article. Simply go to www.funlake.com. At the top of the home page, click on “Professional Media” to access this article and other Lake of the Ozarks news.
