Reid's Orchard celebrates final Apple Festival on site
Oct. 24—Clear skies and warm weather Sunday helped close the end of an era with the conclusion of Reid's Orchard's Apple Festival, which was held for the final time on the grounds.
A line of cars stretched out to the Wendell H. Ford Expressway, with visitors waiting in anticipation to make their way into the long-running event.
Kathy Reid, who owns Reid's Orchard with her husband, Billy, took in the last day with pride and positivity.
"We've had a great response of people showing up," she said. "... It's just incredible to stand here and look out and see all these people out on your farm."
Reid recalls about 3,000 people coming out to the first festival back in 1986. That numbered ballooned to nearly 25,000 annually, including this year.
"It's just amazing to see how much it's grown and how much support we've received from the community," she said.
From the look of the crowds over the weekend, Reid said attendance was "the way it usually is" and continued to prosper for its last hurrah.
"It's been fantastic," she said. "The weather's fantastic, the workers are really fantastic — thank heavens for all our workers that come and help us."
Close to 40 employees and friends pitched in with setting up and running the event, Reid said. In addition there were over 100 craft vendors, 20 food booths and a number of attractions and carnival rides helping make the event an annual tradition.
LeeAnn Hurm, who has worked the event since the late 1990s, said it's something she looks forward to every year.
"(It's) a family atmosphere. I love all the Reids, getting to know all the people," she said. "... For me, it's just a big thing for family members to get together and people come out here in droves."
Even though the Apple Festival will not continue at the orchard, Reid said they have some smaller scale ideas in mind to hold throughout the year.
"I think when we stop having the Apple Festival, we can do other events that aren't as large and not have to worry about doing as much prep work," she said.
In 2023, the event will move to the Daviess County Lions Club Fairgrounds in Philpot with the Lions Club taking over.
Reid feels the event will still flourish.
"... It's a fundraiser for them, so we're glad they're going to continue that when they move it to the fairgrounds," she said. "I feel really great about it being there. ... Not just anybody can do this, so I think the fairgrounds will be able to handle it all and they've got a great board that we've talked to and I think it's in very capable hands."
