While Reid’s Orchard is hosting the Apple Festival for the last time this year, they’re already bringing in something new with “Peach Bliss,” a smaller event scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 6. In addition to fresh peaches, the event will include craft and food vendors plus a play area and petting zoo.
Valerie Reid said as she and her siblings start handling more of the day-to-day operations, they began thinking of ways to host smaller events that get people to the orchard without having to reserve so much land for the Apple Festival every year.
“We haven’t been able to expand on some of the areas we want to expand because we need that for Apple Festival for (even though it accounts for only) two days out of the whole year,” Reid said.
The different themed events will occur during peak weekends of the season.
Peach Bliss will take place right when the Freestone peaches peak, according to Reid. She also said during that period, there typically are already heightened attendance numbers at the orchard so this just provides a small event for people to enjoy while already there.
The Apple Festival, scheduled for Oct. 22-23, will be held at Reid’s Orchard for the last time year — although the annual event isn’t going away, as it will be moving to the Daviess County Lions Club Fairgrounds starting in 2023.
With the event no longer hosted at Reid’s, they also knew that it would impact the non-for-profits that come and sell on the grounds.
So, they plan to have 20 vendors ranging from crafts to food trucks during Peach Bliss. The orchard is also set to open the play area and have a petting zoo for children to enjoy as well.
In the future, they hope to continue the smaller events during the sunflower, strawberry and apple seasons, but it’ll depend on the yield at that time.
Since they won’t be able to predict the yield far out she said the earliest they will be able to accurately predict will be about a month out from the event, and announcements will be made on their Facebook Page.
