The Gravenstein Apple Fair

The Gravenstein Apple Fair was held in the middle of August in Sebastopol and yoiks, yoiks, double-yoiks! The enthusiam for this sweet, tart fruit is deeply rooted.

Originally from Denmark (as far as anyone knows), Gravensteins have been grown here on the West Coast, and predominately in Sebastopol, since the early 1800s. But sub-urban development and a shift to wine grape growing has raised a lot of concern about the dwindling Gravenstein orchards. Supporters of this wonderful pie-, cider-, saucing-apple are fervent in their desire to "Save The Gravensteins" and believe me, here at the Fair, those rustic red specked apples were well celebrated.






Among the apple-maniacal stalls at the Fair, was Japanese-born vendor, Hiroshi Morimoto, who sold hats and shirts made by himself and his recently deceased wife, Sarah. Sarah was over 80 years old when she died earlier this year, and Hiroshi was eager to tell us their story.

When Hiroshi came to this country from Osaka, Japan in the early '70s, he was in Berkeley when Sarah, 21 years his senior, spotted him, "grabbed him up" (his words) and took him home. They were married in 1973 and had been like this (two fingers together), ever since. Hiroshi made hats and men's shirts, and Sarah made women's shirts, including her final batch that he was selling that day. "When these are gone, they'll all be gone," Hiroshi informed us. So of course I HAD to have one of Sarah's shirts, and because of my super sun sensitive skin, one of Hiroshi's cover-up hats (for medical reasons of course) was necessary too.



As you can see, Ted was in picture-taking heaven here. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, then there's a total of 20,000 words in all of these!




Venturing further into the fair grounds, Ted was stopped and captivated by a display of old apple farming equipment sputtering, steaming, creaking and cranking. It reminded him of his father (Ted Sr.) who was raised in a farming community in Plentywood, Montana and who later had become a mechanical engineer.

"Dad would have hung around a place like this all day long," he told me. "Talking to the old men, exchanging machinery stories."

Ted Sr. was with Westinghouse in it's heyday, and worked on the Nautilus submarine project back in the 1950s. The Nautilus project was a big deal back then when the Cold War with Russia was a very hot issue. The missile launching capabilities of the sub gave a sense of security in the U.S. during a time when many nations were developing powerful military technology. The Nautilus was the symbol of peace-keeping strength in this country and Ted's dad was proud to have contributed to it's completion.

And yes, Ted Sr. would have loved to see that old apple harvesting equipment, and it was sweet to remember him on this perfectly perfect mid-summer’s day.






Ah. The food area. Can't you just smell that mouth-watering barbeque? Those are Sonoma county's own Willie Bird turkey legs on the grill.


And ... Goat Milking demonstration anyone?







Lots o' lore, lots o'kids, lots o' food, lots o' fun, and apple-cheeked ladies wearing big ol' hats getting giddy on cider ... Life is just peachy (did I really just say that?) at the Gravenstein Apple Fair! Check it out: http://gravensteinapplefair.com/