By Madison Fisler Lewis
Oct. 6, 2014. On Saturday, Oct. 4, downtown North Wilkesboro was bustling with life as the 37th annual Brushy Mountain Apple Festival brought more than 100,000 excited attendees to the small town. Started out as just an annual fundraiser decades ago, the festival has grown into an event that draws tens of thousands of excited attendees every year.
And attendees couldn’t have asked for a better day. With temperatures cool, but not cold, a crisp autumn breeze and lots of sunshine, it was a perfect day to enjoy one of the first festivals of the fall season.
The Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club operates and organizes the festival each year, and it has become one of the largest fundraisers for Wilkes County, with more than 100 civic, church and nonprofit organizations participating. The festival is free to attend, and all proceeds from the festival are donated back to the community.
The festival featured than 300 arts and craft vendors, 100 food vendors, four music stages, performances such as clogging, folk dance, rope skipping and much more. Activities featured this year included carriage rides, train rides, apple butter demonstrations, soap making demonstrations, blacksmithing and woodworking demonstrations, pottery, a petting zoo, pony rides, survivalist demonstrations, a moonshine still, a bounce house and much more.
But don’t take our word for it. Check out the pictures below to see all the action. And if you didn’t go this year, be sure to put it on your calendar for next year, as this is one fall festival that you don’t want to miss again!
Photos by Madison Fisler Lewis
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