News

Guide to the Apple Festival is on the street!

By Bill Moss, Published: August 29, 2024

From the pancake feast to the final float of the King Apple Parade, the North Carolina Apple Festival features a panoply of sights, sounds, flavors and fun.

Welcome to the Lightning’s guide to navigating your way on Main Street and beyond.

Crowds line up early for coffee, pancakes, eggs, bacon, juice, and, of course, baked apples at the Kiwanis Club’s Pancake Breakfast, which kicks off the four-day event at 7 a.m. Friday. The opening ceremony at 2:30 p.m. is filled with cheerful welcomes and heartfelt expressions of thanks from the Apple Ambassador, elected leaders, the festival chair, other organizers and volunteers.

It’s all guided by the festival’s all-volunteer board of directors plus dozens of other volunteer foot soldiers — and carried out with the indispensable help of law officers, firefighters, EMS workers and city sanitation and public works crews.

Whether it’s rock’n’roll, old-time, bluegrass, R&B, Big Band or beach music, performers on the mainstage issue the soundtrack of the festival.

The star value of the King Apple parade will shine bright when grand marshals Wanda and Roy Williams lead the procession.

And don’t forget the reason for the party in the first place: our resilient, reliable and creative apple growers. You’ll find fried apple cider donuts, apple pies, apple turnovers, apple slushies and of course fresh apples at 14 apple stands on Main Street.

And that’s the Apple Festival — sweet and tangy. Enjoy!

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