30th Atwood Apple Dumpling Festival…It’s A Wrap!
Keeley Warren was the excited winner of the glider from the Apple Dumpling Festival. She is sitting with her fiancée Markus Deel. Not pictured is daughter Hazel.
By DORIS ELMORE
Staff Writer
The 30th Atwood Apple Dumpling Festival opened on Friday evening, August 16, without a hitch. Village President Bill Fleming welcomed the crowd and Sarah Rawlins did a wonderful job singing the Star-Spangled Banner. The 2024 ALAH queens were introduced and then gave their own welcome. They are: Miss ALAH Chloe Sadowski, Jr. Miss Layla Beck and Little Miss Reese Wierman.
Thank you one more time to our Co-Grand Marshals Marsha Burgener and Robert Edwards. Marsha is to be praised for her work in the community, both Atwood and Hammond, and her dedication to the library and many other organizations. Everyone is entitled to retire, but we want her to keep active in local events. Robert graciously took the reins from Marsha and is putting a lot of work into continuing programs. We have a great library with friendly people to help anyone who inquires.
The band Mackville took the stage at 5:30 Friday and entertained the crowd with bluegrass/gospel music. Next up was the apple dessert auction. A big thank you to everyone who made and donated delicious dessert for this event. There were two-neat pies with apples on the crust, so many wonderful items, including a warm apple crisp. Where is a fork or spoon when you need it?
What takes months to plan, is over in what seems like seconds. This is true for the Atwood Apple Dumpling Festival. It is difficult to believe that we have now celebrated 30 years of fun times at the festival. The streets were lined with vendors with unique items to sell. Jami Bowles, vendor chairman, reported there were 80 craft vendors and 18 food/snack/drink vendors, including 8 food trucks. Jami works year-round contacting vendors. The Atwood Volunteer Firemen didn’t disappoint with their pork chops on a stick, delicious mouthwatering grilled pork chops. People wait in line for them. Off the beaten path a little, is the Atwood Christian Church. They have delicious food and apple dumplings.
There would be no Apple Dumpling Festival without apple dumplings. Every year the Atwood American Legion Auxiliary work hard a week ahead of the festival making their “special sauce” they put on the hot apple dumplings. Amanda Barbee said they sold 1600 dumplings and 15 gallons of sauce. What a great combination, apple dumplings with the sauce. Then most people take a few steps and visit the United Church of Atwood homemade ice cream stand. It only makes sense to put them side by side. This year festival goers had the choice of several different flavors. Flavors and the amount sold is as follows: 32 gallon vanilla, 4 gallon pineapple, 2 gallon chocolate, 2 gallon strawberry and 10 gallon peach. It was a hard decision on what to choose, so many of them just came back over and over to try each flavor, or get a combination the first time. I could not believe what flavors people would put on top of their dumpling. Chocolate ice cream on an apple dumpling? Oh well, to each his own.
Well-known in the Central Illinois area is Battle Creek Country band. They closed down the festival on Friday evening with people walking away still singing to the music or doing a little dance.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, opening at 6:30 a.m. in fact, was the hearty breakfast at the United Church of Atwood. That is the best meal to start the day. When you left the church, you could walk right out the door and see the Frank Bragg Memorial Antique Tractor Show, ran by Frank’s son, Mark. People always enjoy looking at old tractors Mark says he had 24 tractors this year, almost double from last year.
The day was off to a great start. Mother Nature was cooperating to the fullest and people were visiting the vendors, getting food and enjoying the day. The baby pageant began at 10 a.m. on Saturday and you can read about the winners in the B section of this edition due to most of the winners being from out of town. The B section covers a wider area.
The Kiddie Tractor Pull was well attended and it was entertaining to see the kids pedal harder and harder to get to the finish line. Watch next week’s edition for pictures of the tractor pull winners.
The Keenager Kitchen Band entertained the crowd at 1 p.m. on the Main Stage. They are always great and enjoyable to see and hear.
What would the festival be without the popular Apple Dumpling Festival parade? Alora Murphy and her crew begin sending out entry forms several months before the festival and it really pays off. The horse and wagon from Big Horsepower Farm in McLean, IL was fun to ride on and was a great ending to the parade. The Percheron horses are just beautiful and it is amazing to watch and listen to him give commands going down the street. I was in awe, but he told me they are well-trained and know just what to do. If we could only train our kids like that (lol). Alora says there were 75 units in the parade with three Shrine units.
The 2nd annual Apple Dumpling Car Show was a success with some gorgeous cars. This is hosted by the First Baptist Church of Atwood with sponsors being Kirby Medical Group and Rocke Overhead Doors. (Please see picture and list of winners in this issue).
Michael’s Tavern had a busy day with a crowd inside and at the Beer Garden in the back of the bar. The crowd enjoyed the music of Jack Daniel Band on Friday night and Those 3 Guys Band on Saturday night. One great thing was they kept their grill open until late. The Zone Status Band was hungry after playing and most of the food vendors were closed. My husband and I took the band to Michael’s and had burgers, etc. Thanks so much!
A well-known band with wonderful singers is Collage of Faith. They are always well-received.
We had a new band this year. Performing on the Main Stage was The Hometown Boys, featuring Jack Geiger, Daniel Traficante and Aaron Rath of the Mahomet-Seymour area. Great performers.
The Apple Dumpling Dog Show, sponsored by Top Knot Grooming, was wonderful. The dogs are beautiful and give a great show. (See pictures and winners in this issue).
The climax to a great 30th anniversary festival was the band Zone Status of Murfreesboro, TN. This band is well-known in the Middle Tennessee area and features Travis Franklin, Wendall Porterfield, Tom Seagrotte and Brian Elmore. Brian was unable to attend due to illness.
Miscellaneous drawings were held and Little ALAH Miss Reese Wierman pulled out the winners. Winner of the Atwood American Legion 50/50 drawing was Shannon Sass winning $217. The big winner of the beautiful glider was Keeley Warren of Bethany. This is just the beginning of Keeley’s good fortune. She is to be married in October to Markus Deel.
Let’s talk about Markus. Even though Markus is not an actual member of the chamber, he is a blessing when it comes to helping them. Markus has been our “Main Man” when it comes to helping set up, helping Jami with placing vendors, running errands, cleaning up, making announcements when needed and so many things. He will run after food if asked. Markus is great to work with, along with his fiancé Keeley. Both of them are invaluable to helping with the event.
I think most people would agree we had a great festival. For once it didn’t rain. I am grateful for the National Weather Service who calls me on Friday and Saturday mornings of the festival to let me know what the weather has in store for us. They will also notify me if bad weather is coming in. What great people to work with.
I do want to mention our local businesses that were open for the festival. They are always here for us with great items to offer. Even though the festival is over, please remember they are here for our community and surrounding areas. Please shop local!
I know I may have left someone out. If I have, please forgive me, it truly wasn’t intentional. Now work begins on next year’s festival. If any of our readers have suggestions on something different to do, or would like to join the chamber and help, please contact one of us and let us know. I haven’t mentioned all the names of chamber members who help throughout the years, but they know who they are and how instrumental they are in making our events work.
Thank you to everyone who helped in any way to make our Apple Dumpling Festival a success. From those who help, to those who come and enjoy, what would we do without you. Our vendors were great and I hope they will continue to be at our festival for many years. I do want to mention our village employees and police department for all their help. We can always count on you!
The next chamber event will be the Halloween festivities. Please watch this paper for more information.
