Apple Cider Celebration: Family, Fruit, and Fall Rituals in Edmonton
Real Fruit. Real Skills. Real Community.
Every apple tells a story—and during this three-weekend family apple celebration, you’ll help write the next chapter. From pedal-powered cider pressing to youth-friendly harvest workshops, OFRE’s fall festival connects kids, parents, and neighbours to the rhythms of food, land, and community.
Join Edmonton’s Fall Apple Celebration Across Three Family-Focused Weekends
three events, one shared harvest
Millhurst - Sept 6
Bring your apples or borrow ours and help launch the season with a hands-on pressing day full of community flavor at the Millhurst Community League Sakaw Gardens location.
Riverdale – Sept 13
Press apples alongside neighbours and discover the joy of turning surplus fruit into fresh juice and new friendships at the Riverdale Community League. Held in beautiful Riverdale Park, part of Edmonton’s expansive river valley park system.
Avonmore - Oct 4th
The big finale. Orchard blessings, apple butter, and youth-friendly preservation stations at Avonmore Community League. Bring your apples and your singing voice!
Why We Celebrate Apples, Cider, and the Children Who Inherit the Orchard
Where Apples Meet Tradition
Long before cider came in bottles, communities gathered each winter to sing to their apple trees, pour cider on their roots, and hang toast in their branches.
This ritual, known as wassailing, dates back to the 16th century in England. It was part celebration, part orchard blessing—a way of waking the trees from winter and wishing for an abundant harvest.
At OFRE’s Apple Cider Celebration, we bring this tradition forward in a way that’s playful, participatory, and meaningful.
Children take the lead—connecting youth to land, food, and culture through noise-making, song, and cider-sharing. These joyful, hands-on moments root our community in something both ancient and urgently needed.
And just like the wassailers of old, we believe in honoring what feeds us.
That includes teaching food preservation skills for young people: making apple butter, drying fruit, and rescuing surplus produce before it goes to waste. Every workshop becomes a new tradition waiting to be passed on.
Youth & Family Day: A Harvest Celebration Built for Hands-On Learning
This is one of Edmonton’s most engaging youth-friendly harvest workshops—designed for ages 8 to 14 and their grownups. Kids get to touch, taste, stir, and sing their way through fall traditions.
It’s a full day of hands-on food activities for families, where apples turn into butter, songs bless the trees, and everyone takes home new skills.
Interactive stations, sticky fingers, and cider smiles
A Full afternoon of Fall Fun and Food Skills
Kids take the lead at this youth-focused harvest celebration. From powering the Apple Annihilator to pressing cider, shaping fruit leather, and singing to the trees, every activity is built for hands-on discovery. These aren’t just fall crafts—they’re food skills and seasonal stories that connect children to what grows around them and how they can help preserve it.
Kids Crush Apples, Make Fresh Cider
Juice from scratch
Children work in teams to load, crush, and press real apples using our cider press. First, they hop on our pedal-powered Apple Annihilator to crush apples—powered by their own legs. Then, they help press the juicy mash into real cider they can drink on the spot. It’s energetic, messy, and totally unforgettable.
Crafting Snacks With Local Apples
Preserve and taste
Kids get hands-on at two preservation stations: rolling fruit leather with real local purée and helping stir a bubbling batch of apple butter on the stove. These zero-waste snacks teach children how to transform fruit into shelf-stable foods—with flavours they’re proud to taste and share.
Sing, Toast, and Bless the Trees
Songs and cider
The celebration ends with a modern-day orchard blessing. Children hang cider-soaked toast in the trees, bang pots to wake up the roots, and lead songs that honour the harvest. It’s loud, joyful, and unforgettable—a moment of gratitude they carry into every season.
Bring Apples. Share Skills. Make Cider.
community participation
This celebration isn’t a show—it’s a shared experience. Whether you bring apples from your own tree, pick for a neighbour, or volunteer to press juice, there’s a role for everyone. Your hands, your harvest, and your time help power every part of the festival.
RSVP Your AttendanceDonate Apples
Drop off 10 to 60 lbs of fruit—your harvest fuels the cider shared with our community.
Volunteer at the Press
Be a juice wrangler, apple hauler, or fruit washer—no experience needed, just enthusiasm and closed-toe shoes.
Support the Cause
Your donation helps us run workshops, share food skills, and rescue fruit that might otherwise go to waste.
Explore the Celebration Series
Three Weekends of Fall Fun
Each event in our Apple Cider Celebration series offers something special. The first two weekends are community-focused cider pressing events—come press, taste, and connect. The final event is our grand finale: a full-day family celebration with the most hands-on workshops.
| Event | Location | Date | Learn More |
|---|---|---|---|
| Millhurst Cider Festival | 5820 11a Ave NW, Edmonton, AB | Sept 6, 2025 | Millhurst Cider Festival |
| Riverdale Cider Festival | 9231 100 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB | Sept 13, 2025 | Riverdale Cider Festival |
| Apple Cider Celebration | 7902 73 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB | Oct 4, 2025 | Avonmore Apple Cider Celebration |
RSVP
Help us plan cider magic. Let us know if you’re coming, how many are in your group, and if you’re bringing apples to press. RSVPs aren’t required—but your heads-up helps us prep volunteers, equipment, and cider supplies.
Donate Apples or Dedicate Your Tree to the Cider Celebration
Have a Backyard Apple Tree?
Help us keep the cider flowing—this year and every year. Bring picked apples to an event, or pledge your tree so its fruit supports community cider season after season.
Yes, One of Our Events Happens in a River Valley Park
Celebrating in Edmonton’s Green Spaces
Riverdale Park is more than just a location—it’s part of Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River Valley park system, the largest stretch of urban parkland in Canada. Tucked just east of downtown, this “tiny gem” includes trails, playgrounds, and green space that connect Riverdale residents to nature—and now, to cider. Read more about the park system here.
Thanks to the Riverdale Community League, this park is also home to a community-run food forest.
Just steps from our pressing station, you’ll find apples, berries, and edible plants planted for the public good. It’s a living example of what happens when neighbours grow food, share abundance, and care for the land together.
OFRE is proud to press apples here—under the trees, near the trails, and in view of the food forest that reflects our values of sustainability, education, and community sharing.
When you visit the Riverdale event, you’re not just tasting cider. You’re experiencing a neighbourhood’s commitment to local food and green spaces.