This weekend, thousands of raincoat-sporting, umbrella-carrying Cornell students headed to the Commons to celebrate Ithaca’s 42nd Annual Apple Harvest Festival.
Organized by the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, the street festival — commonly dubbed “Applefest” — sprawls from the Commons to Albany Street and Aurora Street. Every year, the festival brings together craftspeople, farmers, food vendors and live performers to celebrate the fall harvest.
Additionally, this year’s festival featured a new layout to enhance pedestrian safety and limit traffic. Stands this weekend expanded down West State Street until intersecting with Albany Street, avoiding closures on Cayuga Street. The scheme preserved Applefest’s size, while also limiting automotive dangers to festival attendees.
Despite the rainy conditions, community members, college students and visitors alike took the festival as an opportunity to meet new people, spend time with friends and, of course, eat some apples.
“I really love doing this. I do festivals all year long, [and] this is one of my favorites,” said Fritz Vail, who operates the Sugarlips Ice Cream caramel apple stand. “We don’t see too many people coming over that aren’t happy. It’s a good vibe.”
Vail, who has attended Applefest for over 25 years, said that crowds were particularly large this year.
The crowds persisted through the rainy Saturday and Sunday, determined to explore the eclectic collection of goods featured by the stands. Crowd favorites included Amish-family-run Little Farm Bakery’s iconic apple cider donuts, Vail’s Gourmet Caramel Apples, several apple wine tastings, and of course, the apples themselves. According to Hanna Kochis of Robbie’s Produce, the standout fan-favorite apple was awarded to the Honeycrisp.
“The longer the line, the better the food,” said Remi Cooperstein ’27, referring to the apple cider donut lines. “I’m really excited to be here and to be a part of the Ithaca community.”
For the most part, vendors and patrons seemed unfazed by the rain. However, for an unfortunate few, the rain made business nearly impossible.
Several vendors, including PM Press, had to pack up Saturday afternoon to protect their goods from water damage. Many could be seen taking shelter in local businesses or buying rain gear from the Cornell store.
While some vendors struggled, Ragtrader Vintage owner Joel Voltz didn’t notice a noteworthy drop in customers due to the rain.
“It’s slowed things down, but we’re still pretty busy,” Voltz said as raindrops tap-danced on his tent.
The busy atmosphere was created by thousands of customers — from local residents, to students of both Cornell and Ithaca College, to visitors from the surrounding region, to Cornell alumni visiting for Homecoming.
This sentiment was echoed by several vendors, including Gary Burley of East Hill Creamery, who described Applefest as a “melting pot.”
“I’ve seen people from Manhattan, to Indiana, to Nashville. It’s fun to interact with [everyone],” Burley said.
In addition to the diversity aspect, vendors felt connected to the tradition of Applefest.
Aaron Stolicker ’15, a Cornell alumnus who runs a pop-up business selling Halloween specialty drinks, described Applefest as a bit of a “homecoming” experience.
“I actually never made it to Applefest as an undergraduate, so it was kind of a coming home situation,” Stolicker said. “I was like, ‘We have to do this.’”

Dorothy France-Miller '27 is the Managing Editor of the Cornell Daily Sun. She is a sophomore studying communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.