On October 19, 2019 Harbor Shalom hosted our first Apple Cider Festival since leaving New Britain in June, 2018. Beautiful fall-themed posters and fliers were circulated both in New Britain and in our new “home-town” of Cobalt/East Hampton. Pro Sign donated 20 directional road signs advertising the event which proved very successful in drawing people to our Middle Haddam Road site. Over half of those who came during the day-long event were completely new to Harbor Shalom. That was great! Of course, we also loved making cider with family and friends who have been regular partners with Harbor Shalom.
The day itself turned out to be a perfect fall day for cidering: cool but not cold, (Washing apples in cold water is no fun!) and warming sunshine. The Kamalov family donated all the clean, new, gallon jugs for the fresh cider as well as lunch for the volunteers. Tina McGee made sure we had labels for every jug. The MacDonalds provided a very LARGE cooler to keep many gallons of cider cool until it left to a new home. And people of all ages chipped in to wash apples, grind them to pulp, press into cider, decant from the mixing tank into gallon jugs, and swat away the pesky yellow jackets that wanted to indulge freely. Altogether, we made at least 80 gallons of apple cider. Everything we made sold, too!
This year, all the proceeds from sales of cider and donations to Harbor Shalom Apple Cider Festival are designated for Mission Africa, 2019.
