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Find Good Old-fashioned Nostalgia at Apple Hill
(First Published on November 1, 2022)
I survived another October. October is often the busiest time of year for face painters with all the harvest festivals, parties and Halloween. This year I'll remain at Apple Hill until Thanksgiving weekend and maybe longer (I actually stayed until Dec 2 when the massive snowstorm kicked us out). If crowds warrant it and if I don't have any Santa visits and Holiday Open Houses and Holiday Parties, I could remain at Apple Hill through the beginning of December. Or if the weather turns for the worst, we may end earlier.
Most people think Apple Hill is only open in October but the Fall Season is open from Labor Day until they run out of Christmas trees in December and a couple farms are open all year long hosting festivals to coincide with various fruit harvest times (blueberries, strawberries, lavender).
Most people think High Hill is Apple Hill but High Hill is just one farm (albeit the largest in crowds). Over 58 farms, orchards and wineries participate in the Fall apple harvest season each offering various baked goods, fruit and art/craft vendors (and of course face painting).
Apple Hill spans over 155 acres, is roughly 51 miles circular area (20 miles East to West, 11 miles North to South) and is in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains near the town of Placerville and near the site of the first gold discovery in California.
Although in the past, (pre-Covid Lockdown) I was at Boa Vista, for three years since the world opened up after Lockdown I've been at El Dorado Orchards.
It's the original site of the very first Apple Hill event. Although El Dorado Orchards is not on the official map (because they did not join the official "Apple Hill Association"), it all started here. Back in the 1960's it was called Smorgy Days (as in Smorgasbord). It all came about because the pears (which were the mainstay of all the area orchards) had a blight that year so to make a little something to sustain them the farms got together to sell apple pies instead. El Dorado Orchards hosted. They attracted the press and very soon it grew from one day to one weekend to every weekend during the apple season involving multiple orchards, farms and wineries.
El Dorado Orchards still gives rides to all ages on the only real train (on a real track) in all of Apple Hill which started back in the 60s giving rides to the farms along the route from El Dorado to Apple Ridge at the other end. This train takes you around the two ponds which, if we could get some rain, might be called a lake.
This year (2022) we have over 40 artisans contributing a variety of things from candles to flavored almonds, home made body scrubs to metal art and jewelry. There are quilts and doggy clothes, key chains and even the beloved rubber band guns are back. There is even a farm cat who has joined us this year.
If you haven't been to Apple Hill, or even if you have, El Dorado Orchards is a must stop. It is less crowded and so peaceful. There's a lovely picnic area with room for the kids to run around and several photo-ops. The camaraderie between vendors here and old-time nostalgia is endearing.
This year on a couple of Fridays, we've also invited plein air artists to come out and paint on the farm, weather permitting. Artists met and then spread out to find a scene that inspired them.
Apple Season at El Dorado Orchards runs each year from mid-September through Thanksgiving and since the Christmas tree farm is open through early December, several vendors and the train stay open into December weather permitting. Open Fridays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays, and Sundays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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