Metchosin Apple-Bee Festival 2017

The Apple-Bee Festival is back! The Metchosin Pomological Society is presenting their premier event – a fall fun day celebrating all things apple and bee from our local community.

There will be apple cider making – with tasting of course, and apple sauce making (and testing!) and caramel apple making (with more testing of course) – and you can even make your own apple pie (this is where Gordon Ramsay got his start!) with pie shells donated by the Royal Bay bakery.

There are also those other activities we do with apples too, such as hurling them with locally made medieval siege engines like catapults and ballistae, and learning more about apple tree pruning from a local expert.

Of course the highlight for many is the apple identification and this year Ann Aylard, President of the BC Fruit Testers, will be on hand to help identify that mystery apple in your back yard that tastes so good. We will have a tasting tent providing taste testing of a wide variety of local heritage apples, so bring your mystery apple and put our experts to work – and bring some for the community to taste!

On the bee side we will have a demonstration hive with live bees, and extracting demonstrations, in case you have never seen how we get honey from the hives, and tasting local honey – of course!

Most activities are free, but there is a small fee for making the apple pie, and the treats in tea room, which will have the awesome singing and playing of local singing star Sophia Higgins.

Gary and Sybil Kangas will be sashaying in period clothing representing “The Laird” who started the original Weir Orchard around 1850 and Mary Ann Vine, a cheeky but ardent apple propagator of that era.

So if you are looking for one of those great fall events celebrating the harvest of local food and then ways to crush, eat and throw it, come on down to the Community House and enjoy the Apple-Bee festival! – there will even be some local vendors selling apples and bee products (like honey!).

For more information, call the Community House at 250-478-5155.