Photo by Rachel Pressley
Coming to downtown Hendersonville on Labor Day weekend, the North Carolina Apple Festival will host a wide array of local apple growers and farmers, vendors, artisans, and musicians. A well-known business vending at the festival, Circle L Farms, has been participating for more than 25 years. Kim Hill, the farm’s co-owner, tells Bold Life the story of the Apple Fest folks coming to their packing house back in the day, asking if they wanted to participate. Her grandmother was in the kitchen making fried apple pies for a client and thought the idea sounded wonderful. Their involvement with the festival remains a family affair, with everyone doing their part at the booth. “We do the same thing my grandmom did,” says Hill. “We make fried apple pies from rolled dough, filled with apple sauce, deep fried, sugar coated … our turnovers are the same, except they’re made with phyllo dough and baked.” The family has many memories of people coming to the festival over the years in search of their famous fried pies and turnovers — including celebrities. “We have had dozens of pies purchased for the Clemson football coaches before, “ reveals Hill. “We had a man who would come every year with a half gallon of milk in hand ready to eat 6-12 pies — he came until he was too old to make it downtown — and we even had the father from [the TV show] Family Ties, Steven Keaton [actor Michael Gross], come see us for our pies.”
The NC Apple Festival happens Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in downtown Hendersonville. www.ncapplefestival.org. Circle L Farms will vend directly across from the courthouse. Visit their Facebook Page or call 828-685-2605 for information.
