Sharing Access to donate apples at Housatonic Harvest Festival; volunteers sought for cider demo

The Housatonic Improvement Committee confirmed the Harvest Festival for Saturday, Sept. 19 from noon to 3 p.m. and said the hunger-relief nonprofit Sharing Access will bring donated apples from Upstate New York for distribution and local use.

Chair reported the organization had identified orchards shipping excess apples and told members the committee expects a sizeable donation: "We're getting, I don't know how much how many apples is in a bushel? ... So we're getting, like, 8 bushels of apples," a committee member said during the meeting. Members discussed demo logistics: one volunteer offered a small personal cider press; others said a mechanical shredder would enable larger-scale pressing and would require extra time and volunteers.

Committee members discussed options for serving cider (coolers and cups) and whether to charge a small fee (about $2 per cup) to offset event costs. The committee also reviewed pairing with Sharing Access to distribute apples for free and ideas to promote gleaning and local gleaner networks for future harvests.

The committee did not finalize all logistics and asked volunteers to help staff the demonstration if a larger press is used.