Of course, with the start of the Apple Butter Festival, each of the Auxiliary members thought they had the best recipe. Park Stafford one year kept record of a general consensus of which apple butter the people preferred and that recipe has been used since.
– The apple butter recipe is McIntosh, Cortland, Jonathan, Wealthy and Early Blaze apples. 8 bushels of peeled apples, between 2 & 4 gallons for apple cider and 1 gallon of boiled cider. A half hour before removing from the fire 25 pounds of sugar is added. Cinnamon is stirred in right before pouring into mason jars. Simmer in copper kettle over open fire, constantly stirring for approximately 4 hours.
In 1985, a decision was made to use Golden Delicious apples. What the volunteers learned that day is Golden Delicious apples take twice as long to cook. They also learned never mess with tradition.
– In the early years of the Festival rides were given around the property in a variety of ways; a wagon being pulled by a steam engine, oxen pulled cart, an old coach and a Surrey with Fringe on Top. The Surrey with the Fringe on Top was advertised this way as it referred to the song from the movie “Oklahoma” in 1943.
In the early 60’s tickets for these rides were 10 cents each and Century Village would gross $250 just on these rides in 2 days. That is an average of 2,500 tickets sold each year just for a ride.
