Annual event to celebrate the 193rd birthday of Vancouver’s legendary Old Apple Tree
VANCOUVER — Strongly rooted in the community, Vancouver’s legendary Old Apple Tree turns 193 this year.
Area residents can celebrate at the annual Old Apple Tree Festival, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sat., Oct. 5, at the Old Apple Tree Park, 112 S.E. Columbia Way, directly east of the Interstate 5 Bridge within the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
The family-friendly, free event offers live music, tree care workshops, Vancouver Land Bridge tours, kids’ hands-on arts and crafts, and food for purchase.
Urban Abundance will again be hosting a free apple pressing station. The public is encouraged to bring clean apples and containers to participate.
Also returning this year is the popular hard cider garden and a taste marketplace featuring food samples, hosted by Slow Food Southwest Washington. Local musical groups, The Juleps and River Twain, will be providing live music.
The city of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry Commission will be giving away a limited number of tree cuttings from the Old Apple Tree during the festival.
Planted in 1826 at Fort Vancouver, Vancouver’s venerable Old Apple Tree is the oldest apple tree in the Northwest and considered the matriarch of Washington State’s apple industry. Despite floods, winds, drought, ice and snow, the tree has survived and continues to produce some fruit.
The Old Apple Tree Festival is presented by the Urban Forestry Commission in partnership with the city of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry, a Public Works Department program; Bartlett Tree Care; Slow Food Southwest Washington; and the National Park Service.
For more information about the Old Apple Tree Festival and Vancouver’s efforts to enhance the community’s trees and the benefits they bring to residents and businesses, call Urban Forestry at (360) 487-8308 or visit www.cityofvancouver.us/urbanforestry.
Information provided by city of Vancouver.
