The first two weekends of October every year, all eyes are on the rural countryside 10 miles north of the historic town of Gettysburg, Pa., where 100,000 people ascend upon the valley to celebrate the apple.

The National Apple Harvest Festival celebrates more than 50 years of bringing families together for decades to experience food, entertainment, crafts and more.

This festival not only draws visitors from all over the country each year, but also hundreds of vendors selling crafts, art and unique handcrafted goods. Families are encouraged to enjoy the festival together, as there will be multiple activities for children, including hay piles to play in, pony rides and a petting zoo. As is tradition, stages with live musical entertainment will be set up, along with an antique tractor exhibition and steam engine displays.

Quite possibly the best part of the festival is the food – dozens of vendors will be selling everything from apple pie to apple fritters, apple pizza to apple guacamole – along with pulled pork, sweet potato fries and everything in between.

The festival is held in the middle of “Apple Country” at the South Mountain Fairgrounds, and tractor-led tours will take visitors through the orchards to see where the produce is grown. Adams County is in the heart of the South Mountain Fruit, making this one of the finest fruit producing regions in the United States. Because of this, Adams County is the largest producer of apples in the state of Pennsylvania.

The event runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, and tickets are $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and kids 12 and under are free. For more information, visit www.appleharvest.com.

Destination Gettysburg is the official destination marketing organization for Gettysburg and Adams County, Pennsylvania. The organization has more than 300 members that help promote Gettysburg and Adams County as a premier travel destination. Learn more about Destination Gettysburg, the Adams County tourism industry and the people and businesses that provide our hospitality by visiting www.gettysburgtourismworks.com.