That is because Saturday and Sunday will be Apple Butter Festival time again in Enon.
We first attended the Apple Butter Festival while we were still house hunting after moving here from the chaos and confusion of Los Angeles.
We basically wandered into this friendly small town festival that was centered around an Indian Mound. What was not to love about rows of copper kettles being stirred by residents and the friendly invitation to stir a bit? We loved it.
There were interesting crafts to look at. I got a head start on Christmas presents and bought some things for the new house.
And the food! There were so many booths of food, much of it homemade by local organizations, that we stuffed ourselves. We ended up taking some food home for dinner, plus two jars of warm homemade apple butter to spread on a loaf of freshly baked bread, purchased at a bake sale booth. The Apple Butter Festival helped us decide we had bought a home in the right town.
Although it is now located around Settlers Park and Enon Elementary, the Apple Butter Festival is still the highlight of the calendar in Enon and Mad River Township.
All those favorite culinary delights like funnel cakes, bean soup, pork chops, apple fritters, walking tacos, homemade noodles, “Cootie Corn” and much more will be waiting for you in the Enon Elementary parking lot. An added benefit to the great taste is that some of these booths are fund-raisers for local organizations.
“We’ve added a bunch of new things this year,” said Apple Butter Chairman Jessi Devore.
Vendor chairman Jennifer Hawks said she is excited about the addition of two food vendors with apple-related offerings.
Think Sweet, a bakery from Centerville, will be adding apple cupcakes, apple fries, apple crisp and baked apple dumplings to the festival menu.
Strive at CRSI will bring locally roasted coffee by the cup or packaged by the pound to take home. Strive will also add a variety of fancy chocolate-covered and decorated apples.
New craft vendors include the New Richmond Alpaca Farm with hand woven hats and mittens. Moeller Honey Farm is returning with their variety of honeys and related products.
Another special addition this year is children’s author Meaghan Fisher, who will be on hand to meet fans and sign her books. Some of her books like “Lars the Monkey Flies a Waco Airplane” and “Tyler the Fish Saves Lake Erie” have Ohio-related stories.
And, of course, there will be 300 dozen jars of warm apple butter available for sale.
“We start the fires at 3 a.m. and kettle the apple butter at 6,” said Hawks.
Community members take turns in one hour shifts stirring the apple butter until the last kettle is done in the middle of the afternoon. Each jar of apple butter stands for hours of work by community members.
Proceeds from the apple butter sales support the work of the Enon Community Historical Society.
The Apple Butter Festival opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. on Saturday. On Sunday it opens an hour later at 11 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Visitors are asked to please leave their pets at home.
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