HAMILTON – Its considered the biggest bake sale under the Big Sky.
McIntosh Apple Day in Hamilton is coming up this weekend and there’s been lots going on with volunteers and Ravalli County Museum staff making 650 apple pies on Thursday.
It may have been rainy outside, but a warm, pie-making bonanza was going on inside at St. Francis Church in Hamilton.
All of the 650 pies that were being prepared at the different stations here at the church will be shipped out to be baked before they’re ready to eat on Saturday.
Corvallis-based Swanson Orchards — which has deep roots in the Bitterroot Valley — supplied the apples. Sarah Monson who works for the Ravalli County Museum says they put on the event to celebrate the history of apple orchards in their area.
“And Swanson’s is one of the oldest apple orchards in the valley. They were here in the beginning of the apple boom, which I wanna say started in the early 1900’s, and is actually the history behind the event itself,” Monson said.
The church smelled divine, and you can expect the same on Saturday. This is Dona Fisher’s ninth year prepping pies.
“The smell of apple everything, from the apple chutney and the apple butter and the pies, and the steak kabobs and everything. It’s just a really great day,” said volunteer Dona Fisher who was in her ninth year of preparing pies.
The 36th annual McIntosh Apple Day runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
