The Kentucky Apple Festival is an annual

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

held in

Paintsville Paintsville () is a home rule-class city along Paint Creek in Johnson County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 3,459 during the 2010 U.S. Census. History A Paint Lick Station was referred to in ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

during the first Friday and Saturday in October. The festival was originally created in 1962 as a way to provide a market for the county's

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

production. During 2020 & 2021 the Kentucky Apple Festival was canceled due to COVID-19. During 2021 the city held the Paintsville Autumn Fest. In 2022 the Kentucky Apple Festival returned and continue their time honored tradition. Retrieved on 2010-09-04

History

The first Kentucky Apple Festival was held on October 6, 1962, and was known as "Apple Day". It was guided by Elmon Davis, an officer at Citizens National Bank and apple orchard owner from Flat Gap. Davis not only created the festival to promote the county's apple production, but to compete with the Johnson County Fair, which had been held annually since 1914. Eventually, the Kentucky Apple Festival became the more popular of the two and the Johnson County Fair became nonexistent. Retrieved on 2010-09-04 In June 2020, officials decided to scrap the 2020 festival as the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

was the cause.

Traditions

Although the majority of the festivities occur on the first Friday and Saturday in October, many events occur during the last week of September, adding up to over forty-five events. Traditional events include: Junior and Miss Apple Blossom pageant; school competitions in spelling, art, penmanship, and mathematics; old-fashion costume contest;

terrapin Terrapins are a group of several species of small turtle (order Testudines) living in freshwater, fresh or brackish water. Terrapins do not form a taxonomic unit and may not be closely related. Many belong to the families Geoemydidae and Emydid ...

trot (turtle race); multiple concerts; car shows; Ducky Derby (

Rubber duck A rubber duck, or a rubber duckie, is a toy shaped like a duck, that is usually yellow with a flat base. It may be made of rubber or rubber-like material such as vinyl plastic. Rubber ducks were invented in the late 19th century when it became ...

race on Paint Creek) and the Apple Festival Parade.Kentucky Apple Festival
Official website. Retrieved on 2014-05-10 One of the festival's largest and most popular events prior to 2009 was the Apple Bowl. The annual football game between

Paintsville High School Paintsville High School is a secondary-level school located in Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky and is part of the Paintsville Independent School District. Its student enrollment as of the 2023–2024 school year was 321 in grades 7 through ...

and

Johnson Central High School Johnson Central High School is a public secondary school located at 257 North Mayo Trail on the northwest side of Paintsville, Kentucky, United States. The school serves as the Johnson County School District's consolidated high school. As of ...

was halted after 2008 due to the difference in the size of the two schools.

References

External links

Kentucky Apple Festival
- Official Website
Official 2010 Kentucky Apple Festival Brochure - online version
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