Hartford Apple Festival Traditions

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Fall is finally here, and along with it, comes one of my favorite weekends of the year: Apple Festival! This year, for the first time, we were privileged to share this long-standing community tradition with our grandchildren.

*Update: The 2019 Hartford Apple Festival Dates are September 20, 21, and 22, 2019.*

Location and History

Hartford is a township in Northeastern Ohio. The festival takes place the third full weekend in September in the middle of “beautiful downtown Hartford” (as my mom’s yardstick used to boast). Hartford’s center is located at the intersection of  State Routes 7 and 305. Since the population of Hartford is less than 2200, the “downtown” part always felt like a little of a stretch.

For the first 42 years, there was a school situated smack dab in the middle of the square. It was built in 1924 and originally served students in grades 1-12. By the time the festival started, students were being bused to nearby Kinsman for high school, and the school in Hartford had become known as Hartford Elementary.  The school closed in 2006 and was torn down later that year.

Hartford Elementary was a huge part of my childhood. I attended grades 1-8 in the building (kindergarten was in the Community Church across the street back then). Each year, in the 1970s and 80s, school would start, and classes would decorate their windows in anticipation of the festival. The festival set-up meant that we would lose at least three days of recess, but we didn’t care. It was so exciting to look out the windows and watch the rides being set up. It was truly the best weekend of the year.

Many local organizations have booths at the apple festival. For years, I worked the cub scout pop booth, the boy scout dunking booth (even got dunked a few times–I’ll go in for the right donation), Optimist club booths, PTO raffles, the Methodist church booth. At one point, I was buying pies from the Community Church to donate to the Methodist Church. The only problem was that the Methodist Church was selling them for 50 cents cheaper than I was buying them.  As Pastor Bill Roden told me, at least I was supporting two good causes at the same time!

Traditions

Apple Festival had many traditions, most of which still continue today, even without the building that was so much a part of it for years.

Friday night

Friday night always was the best night. On Friday, all of the members of the community came to watch the queen’s pageant in the gymnasium. There were spotlights, music, and a runway. Every little girl in Hartford wanted to grow up to be the Apple Festival queen.

Friday night was the night we rode rides. Wristbands weren’t cheap, so we only rode one of the three days. Friday night had the lowest crowds, and after watching the rides being set up during the week, we were always ready to go as soon as it started. Our parents would usually be in the gym watching the pageant while we rode the carnival rides, checking in every once in a while.

After the pageant was the queen’s dance with a band and later a DJ. I can remember being embarrassed because my parents were in there, dancing, of all things! I distinctly recall them dancing to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll,” probably sometime in the early 80s. Keep in mind that my parents were probably in their late twenties or early thirties at the time.

Friday was also the day my kids entered the art and cooking contests. Meg won a blue ribbon for her apple cake more than once, and the boys won ribbons for their Lego creations. Once, Ian dropped his Lego masterpiece on the way out the door and it broke into hundreds of pieces. It was a disaster! He was so upset!

Saturday

Kids Activities

Saturday always started with the bike parade and the pet parade, followed by the kids’ games. Dad helped us decorate our bikes that morning–we never started before that day. If we were lucky, we took our dog to the pet parade. My kids did start their bicycle decorations a little earlier, but often took “weird” pets (that they’d captured that morning) to the pet parade. I can remember them taking spiders and caterpillars. They did have a dog, but somehow I convinced them that it was too hard to take him most of the time. We could let the bugs go free as soon as the pet parade was over.

After that we always went home until parade time. We had to rest up before the big event!

The Parade

Hartford has always had an amazing parade for such a small town. Most years, the parade lasted nearly an hour. I was lucky to have a wonderful friend, Patty, who lived at the start of the parade route. She and her parents always invited our family to sit and watch the parade at their house.  We continued this tradition for probably  thirty years.

Hartford’s parade is known for its candy. My kids would come home with so much candy that it would last until Halloween. When Halloween came, I’d take the left-over Tootsie Rolls and other small candies to school to pass out to my students.  If you were in the parade, you had to ration your candy so that you didn’t run out before you got all the way around the center–a hard task for younger kids!

Traditionally, the VFW members led the parade, but in later years, they turned that honor over to the Boy Scouts. Many organizations made floats–I remember being a worm in a huge papier-mâché apple with neighborhood friends. Tiffany, Bruce, Sheila, Tricia, David, and I had our faces painted green and stuck our heads out of the humongous apple while the younger ones–Brian was one–rode in an apple core trailing behind. My kids rode on preschools floats, scout floats, Optimist Club floats, and more. They marched with the scouts and cheerleaders

Fire engines dominate the parade. Sirens and horns are loud–a fact I forgot this weekend. Poor Josh should have had noise-cancelling headphones!

After the Parade

When the school was still there, kids would sneak around to the front of the building in the evenings on Friday and Saturday. There were large bushes and no lights, so it was a great place to be alone. Many fights took place out front, and several people I know had their first kisses there (including me).

As an adult, I always chose to work the Cub Scout pop booth after the parade. The 8-10 p.m. shift was always super busy, and time passed quickly.  In my younger years, I’d go to the dance in the gym. The festival grounds were so crowded after the parade that it made it difficult to visit, ride rides, or buy food.

Sunday

Sunday was more of a family day, and I don’t remember going to the Apple Festival on Sundays as a child although we probably did. When my kids came along, we’d clean up trash with the Boy Scouts and then go to Sunday church service at the center. Afternoon activities included the car show, the arm wrestling tournament, apple pie eating contest, and apple peeling contest. In the old days, there was a greased pig contest–my brother David and cousin Michael participated in that one–and a greased pole contest.

The Hartford Apple Festival Today

The Rides

We took the girls up to the Apple Festival at noon on Saturday to ride the rides. Wristbands were $15.00 for noon to 6:00 p.m. or $20 for all day. We knew we weren’t going to ride after the parade because it would be too busy, so we bought the $15.00 wristbands.

The first attraction the girls wanted to go into was the bounce house. It was damp inside. They really didn’t know what to do or how to jump, so they weren’t in very long. After that, they rode the jet skis, the worms, and the swans before heading to the carousel. The worm ride was much faster than I thought it would be, but the swan ride was very calm and slow.   They each needed an adult to hold them on the carousel, so we got to ride for free.

The Food

After one round of all the rides, we headed over to the food. Dennis got a gyro,  while I got the girls hot dogs and punch at the Methodist Church booth. Josh loved the apple crisp–I made sure not to give him the crunchy parts.  I also had cheese on a stick, and Krystal had pizza. The bees were bad–they always are at apple festival time. If you are allergic, please bring an epi-pen.

After another round of rides, we went back for dessert. I got a caramel apple, choosing the option where the apple was sliced in a bowl with caramel poured on top. I also got cotton candy, which I shared with the girls. One item I really miss is the Poorman’s Caramel Apples with waffle bowls and ice cream!

Booths and Games

Like any festival, there are carnival games to choose from. Our girls are little enough that we didn’t need to play any of them. However, we did explore the craft and vendor booths. I’m a sucker for books, so the Usborne lady was excited to see me coming.

The Orchard

After dessert, we walked over to the newly re-opened Hartford Orchards. Everyone had apple cider slushies, and the girls each had an apple.  Josh fell asleep, so we spent some quiet time coloring there.

The Parade

The Apple Festival parade was awesome, as usual. It did seem a little shorter than the old days, but it was still 40 minutes long. We had no problem finding a good spot near the center. The girls had a blast and ended up with a ton of candy.

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Conclusion

If you’re from Northeastern Ohio or Western Pennsylvania, check out the Hartford Apple Festival the third full weekend in September. There’s something fun for everyone!

For more fall fun in Northeastern Ohio, check out White House Fruit Farm in Canfield, Ohio. For summer activities, try the Ashtabula County Fair or the Mesopotamia Ox Roast.

Looking for more fun activities for the family, check out Pymatuning Deer Park in Jamestown, PA, or the Linesville Spillway at Pymatuning Lake.

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