Community members are ready to stir the five 50-gallon copper kettles as hundreds of gallons of Apple Butter are made for sale to the public. It’s an honor to be asked to take up a wooden paddle to stir the apple butter. Be sure to linger awhile near the kettles to savor the aroma of steaming apple butter.
Each kettle has to be stirred for hours until the apple butter is thick enough to can. The first kettle starts at 6 a.m. with other kettles starting one at a time in spaced intervals. If the timing and weather conditions are perfect, the first batch of apple butter should be ready for canning not long after opening ceremonies conclude or at least by noon.
Guest can watch the well-organized canning process as the steaming apple butter is put into the new glass pint jars.
Pint jars of Enon’s special recipe apple butter will be sold for $8 or two jars for $16. (Do the math.) It’s always nice to be able to hug the jars of warm apple butter if the weather is chilly.
Only two jars can be purchased at once, but nothing keeps a person from going through the line again or coming back the next day to buy more. I won’t tell on you. We love to give these jars of apple butter to out of town friends for Christmas.
This year there was a bit of a challenge to setting up the kettles. It was something that chairman Jessi DeVore never faced in her 18 years as Apple Butter chairman.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
As she explained it, the festival received a notice that because of regional drought conditions, open fires would not be allowed for cooking the apple butter.
Once the word got out, Suburban Propane came to the rescue helping to set up propane burners and loaning the festival 10 tanks needed to cook the apple butter for two days. They are also giving the festival a discount on propane this weekend.
Parking has been changed a bit, with handicap parking in the former Rite Aid parking lot and plenty of parking for the rest of us behind the old Enon school building.
“Just follow the apples painted on the road to find parking,” said Devore, who painted them all by herself.
Devore began chairing this festival when she was only 18 years old and this is her 18th year. I have a feeling she would love to find a volunteer willing to take over her job.
Festival food offerings feature a wide variety of favorites including the unique Apple Butter Pork Chops using Enon’s own Apple Butter. Offerings include apple fritters, chicken and noodles, bean soup and cornbread, BBQ, homemade pies, walking tacos, corn on the cob, hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, brats, peanuts in the shell, shaved ice and much more. There will be tables for folks to enjoy their food selections and visit with neighbors. The booths close at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday so there is plenty of time before closing to buy food to take home for dinner.
Since there are a variety of booths with crafts for sale, it’s a great place to start Christmas shopping.
Sunday begins with the Enon Apple Butter Festival 5K at 9 a.m. although the actual festival won’t be open until 11 a.m.
The running and walking 5K, which includes a circle around Enon’s famous Adena Mound, begins and ends at Greenon High School. Registration can be online at Runsignup.com or at Greenon High School on race day before 9 a.m. Shirts are not included in these late registrations. There are a variety of men’s and women’s categories with winners receiving a mug.
UPDATE: Last weekend’s Heritage of Flight Festival in New Carlisle was a huge success with more than 1100 cars registered for the Car show on Friday evening setting a new record. On Sunday the elusive mile of food fundraiser hit a new record attaining a length of ¾ Mile down Route 571. All the non-perishable foods were donated to the Bethel Churches United Pantry.
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