NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (KMTV) — The 55th annual Applejack Festival starts this weekend in Nebraska City. Despite some seasonal growing challenges, the apple orchard is thriving. In late April, the orchard saw some challenges.
"We had a frost about 26 degrees, killed about 10% of the crop and then a week later we had a hail storm that killed another 10% and then a week later another hail storm," said Ben Heusinkvelt, the ground and orchard manager.
Around 30-40% of the crop was lost causing concern for Arbor Day Farm.
"A lot of sleepless nights in the spring worrying about the blossoms, worrying about the weather and 'What can you do?' You just kind of have to bear through it," said Heusinkvelt.
With each year comes new challenges with weather, but with a little over 3,000 trees, the apples that did hang on allowed them to become bigger, sweeter and juicier.
This has made the apples ready for the Applejack Festival. The festival is Arbor Day Farm's biggest event of the year, which draws nearly 80,000 people to Nebraska City.
"There's a lot that goes into preparation here. We actually started planning this probably five or six months ago and started having weekly meetings with all of our team members," said Brandon Schuster, the vice president of Arbor Day Farm.
Staff and volunteers, about 200 people, are a part of making the festival happen. It's a place where visitors can never get enough things apple.
"Caramel apples, apple pie, apple donuts, apple cider, apple slushies. As well as lots of U-pic apples. Varieties you can pick are going to be Johnagold, Johnathon, Golden Delicious, Fuji and Honey Crisp," said Heusinkvelt.
Despite some trees producing fewer apples this year, workers try to gather one to two bushels from each tree to harvest for the festival. The festival runs for two weekends, Sept. 15-16 and 22-24.
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