Looking for a fall activity that includes shopping, food, and museums? Shop by the Applejack Festival in Nebraska City at Arbor Day Farms! The most recent festival took place September 15th through 17th, along with the 23rd and 24th, 2023, where the farm was open from 9-5, hosting food trucks, apple picking, and Arbor Day’s very own nature trail.

This historic event usually brings in around 60-80,000 people to celebrate the harvest; which is why the festival is spread throughout multiple weekends. To kick off the 55th annual harvest festival there was an AppleJack fun run, and to close the event, you can be found in the downtown of Nebraska City, in a progressive dinner, where people are able to explore and learn about the historic downtown of Nebraska City!

Though all of the weekends at the AppleJack Festival are filled with fun, the last weekend is mostly focused on apple harvesting. People are able to buy either half a peck (14 to 16 apples) for $14, or a full peck (32 apples) for $20, which you can share between a group of people, so each of you are not coming home with tons of apples each. During the apple picking experience there are only certain apples that are able to be picked, meaning the amount of apples is scarce, and bythe end of the weekend, many of the apples meant to be picked are already overpicked, causing some people to bleed into the apples that are not ready to be picked yet.

“Since we went on the last day, the apples were very overpicked,” sophomore Tatum Lewis said. “It wasn’t as pretty as I imagined it to be.”

Once you have picked your apples, you have the choice of either taking the apples home for yourself, or you can either make your very own apple cider! Through the process of grinding up the apples and pressing them into a cider, you can make a very natural apple cider, the only ingredient is apples!

“It was super cool,” Lewis said. “The people that helped were super nice and friendly to us. It was just a plus that the cider also tasted good.”

Not into the apple picking? There are quite a few shops, as well as live music to enjoy. Food is one of the main events at the AppleJack Festival, and ou can choose anything from Nachos to the famous Hurts Donuts Apple Donuts! These Donuts are made from the apples from Arbor Day, and the perfect amount of sugar, apples, and love! No matter if you are a donut lover or not, these are for sure going to be a hit!

“They are so good and warm,” Lena Weibye, a freshman, said. “The fresh apples from the farm make it so much better.”

Along with the Donuts, you can buy apple cider slushies, apple pie, caramel apples, and fried apples, all made from scratch! The caramel apples contain the perfect amount of caramel, along with quite a few nuts, which can sometimes take the magic away from the caramel, but still a solid choice. While you enjoy your sweet treat, make sure to check out the live music playing during all hours of the day!

No matter what your interests are or what you love, there is for sure something for you to do! The 56th annual AppleJack festival will take place in late September of 2024, so make sure to head on over to Nebraska City, and visit the AppleJack festival!