Great weather helps make Appleumpkin ‘100 percent perfect’

Perfect weather and a larger festival area brought large crowds to downtown Tecumseh for the 21st annual Appleumpkin Festival last weekend.“Appleumpkin was absolutely awesome,” said organizer Jan Fox. “The crowds came. Everybody had a great time. It was one-hundred percent perfect.”Approximately 25,000 to 30,000 people came to wander the streets of downtown, enjoying music, food, art, antiques, and activities. This year, the festival spread out to Kilbuck St. on S. Evans St., and went into the 300 block of S. Ottawa St.The free shuttle service was used from Tecumseh High School, and for visitors to travel out to the Apple Festival at Kapnick Orchards.The new Saturday tractor show on S. Evans St. was a popular new attraction, as was the straw maze in the southeast parking lot.Kids enjoyed playing in the corn box to find hidden gold coins. The Tecumseh Rotary had great success with the scarecrow building, and ran out of clothes after 400 scarecrows were built.“Our kids activities are always well-received,” Fox said.Food was very popular. “Everybody eats no matter what,” said Fox. “There’s a little something for everybody.”Downtown merchants had a very busy weekend. Crystal Winkler of Tecumseh Antiques and More expected large crowds and told her dealers to be prepared and to plan to work extra shifts during the weekend.“It was fabulous. It was a great weekend,” Winkler said. “I had very positive feedback about Tecumseh and how Appleumpkin was set-up and organized.”Improved business continued into Monday for Tecumseh Antiques and More. People called about pick-ups and came into the store.Winkler believes Appleumpkin really benefits the city and merchants. “It brings people into town,” she said. “We really appreciate the city doing this.”Kapnick Orchards sponsors an Apple Festival that runs in conjunction with Appleumpkin downtown. Scott Robertello was pleased the weekend turned out so perfectly.“I don’t think it could have gone any better,” he said. “We came extremely close to running out of cider both days. We couldn’t seem to keep up with donuts. For probably 72 to 75 hours the donut machine never shut off. We were making donuts after the festival closed. We don’t like to be sold out of anything. Some people come quite a distance to our festival and we don’t want anyone to be disappointed.”The shuttle that ran between Appleumpkin and Kapnick’s made life easier for everyone. This was the second year for the shuttle, and Robertello noticed more people taking advantage of it.“The shuttle is a wonderful thing, because we can get such a traffic jam coming into the orchard,” he said. “We thank the community for supporting both our festivals.”Raisin Township police and fire departments helped keep things moving smoothly around the orchard. “It’s an invaluable service and we couldn’t do it without them,” said Robertello.Although the exact amount of money made at Appleumpkin isn’t known at this time, Fox estimates it to be between $3,000 and $4,000. The money earned during Appleumpkin is used to support the downtown and businesses.“After we take all our expenses out it stays in the regular account,” said Fox. “We try to put the money back into the downtown area. Tecumseh’s Central Business Association (CBA) doesn’t have membership dues, so what we make off Appleumpkin is what we put into the downtown to make it more successful.”Local non-profit organizations also take advantage of the Appleumpkin crowds to earn money. “We have 23 non-profit organizations and many of them had income generating fundraisers and they took in $7,000 over the weekend,” Fox said. “They would not have made that kind of money having their own fundraisers. I think Appleumpkin is a really neat way to give back to the community.”Thoughts are already turning towards next year’s festival. “Put it on your calendar for next year,” said Fox. “We’re going to have the same weather. I’m putting my order in now.”

Tecumseh Herald

 

110 E. Logan St.
P.O. Box 218
Tecumseh, MI 49286
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