As all of you know, at the beginning of this month the town had its annual Apple Festival filled with food, games, hand crafted items, and history. But after working there for a few years with the scouts, I was wondering how all of the festivities got started.

The apple festival was originally created as an attraction for the town and to entertain and educate the people. The founding members were Gary and Kay Shepard, Barb Kelly, and Kathy Baker. The first food vender to sign up was the local Lions Club, while there were only an original six antique dealers. Luckily for the founders, the first Apple Fest did well, and they have managed to grow into the now $80,000 budget event containing Civil War reenactments, games on the lower half, and food and antique booths filling, in all of the spots that they can fit.  It allows people all over the Kendallville area to learn history while also having plenty of fun.