Friends of Piper’s Orchard in Carkeek Park is hosting the 10th annual Festival of Fruit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Nancy Malmgren Environmental Center, 650 NW Carkeek Park Rd. Events include cider pressing and tasting, live music, an apple pie contest, activities for kids, and guided tours of the historic orchard.
Activities include:
- Apple pie contest: Bring a pie to enter in the contest between 10-10:30 a.m., then buy a piece of contest pie after the winners are announced.
- Help make fresh pressed cider.
- Apple identification: Bring apples from your home orchard for variety identification.
- Homemade pie: Donate homemade pies, which will then be sold, along with fresh warm cider, at Tillie’s Café, with proceeds supporting ongoing maintenance of the orchard.
- Orchard tours by volunteers who have helped restore the orchard.
- Taste heirloom apple varieties from the orchard and other sources.
- Kids’ crafts and activities.
- Live music during the festival.
- Master Gardener Clinic, with activities for adults and children.
- Carkeek Wildlife Habitat Garden tour.
The Friends of Piper’s Orchard is a group of dedicated volunteers who rescued the historic North Seattle orchard from invasive plants. The annual Festival of Fruit raises awareness and funds to help the volunteers ensure that the orchard, originally planted in the 1890s, will survive at least another 100 years.
The Festival is sponsored by Friends of Piper’s Orchard, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Carkeek Park Advisory Council, Seattle Tree Fruit Society and City Fruit.
