New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Last year we announced that the Apple-Peach festival was canceled due to COVID-19. We ended that announcement by saying “there is always next year.” Alas, that was wishful thinking.
Acushnet’s very popular annual Apple-Peach Festival is another casualty of the worldwide pandemic for a second year – what would have been their 41st celebration. The committee’s main focus, however, is the health and safety of the community.”
Many people have gone beyond disappointment when hearing about cancelations of festivals and gone straight to anger. What has to be understood is that a lot of logistics and planning goes into these festivals and that planning typically begins 6 months out or in cases like New Bedford’s “Feast of the Blessed Sacrament” planning begins within a week after the festival is over. Musical acts have to be booked, inventories of food and supplies have to be stocked so they don’t run short, schedules have to be cleared, permits and licenses squared away, and often vendors are coming from out of state so travel planes have to be made.
The festival is one that people have been attending since childhood with its origins going back to 1979 after a local farmer came up with a creative way to sell the apples produced at the town’s apple orchards. Over the years, the “peach” aspect was added, along with local crafts and arts, food vendors, live local music and entertainment acts, police and fire department demonstrations, and all the other aspects locals have come to love.
What do miss most about the Apple-Peach festival? How do you feel about it closing for the second year in a row? Leave a comment or inbox us at info@newbedfordguide.com.
