The Morgan Messenger
BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — One of the largest and longest-running fall festivals in West Virginia is about to celebrate a milestone half a century in the making. The 50th Annual Apple Butter Festival returns to Berkeley Springs this Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, promising a weekend packed with the sweet smell of tradition, the energy of community, and the excitement of something new.
Festivities kick off a day early on Friday, October 10, when the Craft Beer and West Virginia Wine Garden opens from 5 to 9 p.m. with craft breweries, local wineries, distilleries, food trucks, and live music in the courthouse lot.
The golden anniversary theme, “A Kettle Full of Memories: 50 Years of Apple Butter Festival,” sets the tone for a weekend that’s as much about honoring the past as it is about making new memories.
The hometown parade launches the fun on Saturday morning at 9 a.m., followed by two full days of games and contests, music, country food, fine arts, and local crafts. The undisputed star of the festival remains the fragrant apple butter bubbling away in giant copper kettles on Fairfax Street. The Greenwood Community Center is continuing this beloved tradition, once again leading the effort, stirring and selling the apple butter that draws visitors back year after year.