Apple Blossom Festival - An Awesome Event

The 2008 Apple Blossom Festival went on as planned despite several threats of rain. People were everywhere for the weekend in Winchester, Virginia on the first weekend of May this year. It is hard to figure the actual attendance because there is no gate to this downtown Winchester event. But there were as many people as there always is at this awesome celebration.

There was a carnival open three days before the actual Apple Fest. Powers Great American Midway was the host carnival. It was located about three miles from downtown the host of the main venue. The Circus provided by the Clyde Beatty - Cole Bros Circus was at the Apple Blossom Mall around two miles from downtown. Both of these extra attractions drew large crowds as well. The rides were always turning at the carnival lot. The people packed in elbow to elbow on Friday and Saturday night at both the Circus and the carnival lots.

The patrons were spending money as always. They just did not support the games for sure. Some of the games workers complained of not getting many players. The people seemed disinterested in the games as a whole. The Water Races and quarter pitches did better than usual. The balloon games did well as normal. But several other games took a huge hit in overall grosses. Some of these games were down over 50% in gross. That is an abnormal decrease in sales for any event in a one year period. It was terrible for the games concessionaires and workers.

It was said that there were a few more games on the streets spots than normal. Some estimated up to 10-12 games were added. There were certainly a bunch of games on the streets. They were covering footage in 5 different blocks. If there were more games in Winchester this year that would account for some of the loss in revenue by the games people. One concessionaire stated that although he did not have more games this year he had twice as much help. So the spot was not as far off for him as most this year.

The food sold as always because people have to eat no matter what. People will often buy a certain food at every event they attend. Well in Winchester it is the apples that are going. Several people enjoyed theirs via candy apples. Man those candy apple vendors had to have made a bundle.They were selling them no matter what.

The Firefighters put on a huge parade every year at the Apple Blossom Fest. The parade is long and has many nice floats. It normally takes 2 hours or longer to run through. The Festival has fireworks on two nights. This display is nice and bright and lasts around 15-20 minutes. There are bands to listen to and many other fun activities at this annual festival.

The first day, Tuesday, at the carnival lot things were slower than normal years. The attendance was down and some blamed it on the weather. It was somewhat chilly that day with a little wind to make matters worse. Wednesday was twice as good and basically back to normal crowd size. Thursday was slightly better and was just a scantling off of the Friday crowd. Saturday was by far the best day for all the vendors locations. Weather the location was on the carnival lot or downtown or at the circus lot. Saturday was the finale and the people came out in droves supporting this long time Apple Festival.

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