Trees, apples and cider! Vancouver celebrates the Old Apple Tree on Saturday, Oct. 7
September 28, 2023
Vancouver’s popular Old Apple Tree Festival returns Saturday, Oct. 7, at Old Apple Tree Park, 112 S.E. Columbia Way, directly east of the Interstate 5 Bridge in the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., this family-friendly, free event will offer live music, Vancouver Land Bridge tours, hands-on arts and crafts, apple tastings, and apples and food for purchase.
Vancouver Urban Forestry will host a free apple pressing station. Community members are encouraged to bring clean apples and containers to participate. Volunteers are needed at the event to assist with the cider pressing station. Visit www.cityofvancouver.us/urbanforestry for volunteer opportunities.
Local musical groups the Ottomatics, River Twain and JT Wise Band will provide live music throughout the day. The City’s Urban Forestry Commission will give 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 is considered the matriarch of Washington State’s apple industry. Despite the tree trunk failing in June 2020, a new tree from the original root system has grown to take its place.
The Old Apple Tree Festival is presented by the Urban Forestry Commission in partnership with the City of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry, a division of the City’s Public Works department; Bartlett Tree Care; and the National Park Service.
For more information about the Old Apple Tree Festival and Vancouver’s efforts to enhance the community’s urban trees canopy, please call Urban Forestry at 360-487-8308 or visit www.cityofvancouver.us/urbanforestry.
Contact: Jessica George, Urban Forestry Outreach Coordinator, 360-487-8308, jessica.george@cityofvancouver.us