Hometown Harvest: Manson Apple Blossom Festival fills downtown with spring tradition

MANSON — Downtown Manson turned into a corridor of music, candy and community celebration Saturday as the 106th annual Manson Apple Blossom Festival brought parade crowds, local artists, craft vendors and generations of Apple Blossom royalty together beneath clear spring skies along SR 150.

This year’s “Hometown Harvest” festival leaned heavily into the kind of small-town traditions that reward people for simply showing up early, finding a spot on the curb and staying awhile.

Children lined the parade route with bags and buckets in hand well before the Grand Parade began, and by the end of the procession many were comparing hauls like Halloween trick-or-treaters. Nearly every parade entrant tossed something into the crowd — candy, toys and freeze pops flying from floats, trailers and passing vehicles while some participants handed out apples directly to children along the sidewalks.

For many families, collecting treats became almost as much a part of the parade as watching the entries themselves.

The parade moved through downtown late Saturday morning with a mix of longtime community staples, local organizations and visiting groups. This year’s Manson Apple Blossom royalty rode alongside visiting royalty from the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival and returning Manson royalty from decades past.

One of the parade’s more nostalgic moments came as former royalty from 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016 rode through downtown in convertibles, waving to spectators from across generations of the festival’s history.

Grand Marshal Susan Fisher also drew warm applause from paradegoers. Fisher, known throughout the Chelan Valley for her volunteer spirit and familiar roadside greetings between Chelan and Manson, was honored this year as a hometown figure closely tied to the community identity celebrated throughout Apple Blossom weekend.

The parade route regularly shifted between drumlines, engines and motorcycles. Marching performances came from the Manson Trojans band, Chelan Goats marching band, Pioneer Middle School Bears band and the Cashmere Middle School band and drill team, whose flag performers drew strong reactions from the crowd as they moved through downtown.

A procession of Harley-Davidson motorcycles rumbled through the route between community floats and emergency vehicles from Chelan County Fire District 5, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Forest Service. Sheriff Mike Morrison, Fire Chief Arnold Baker and Deputy Chief Mike Williams were among those appearing in the parade alongside firefighters, deputies and rescue personnel.

Several horseback riders and dancing horses also moved through downtown during the procession, adding another layer of movement and showmanship to the route as riders guided their horses through choreographed steps and crowd-friendly routines. Children pressed toward the curb whenever riders passed close enough for a wave or a quick greeting.

Away from the parade route, the festival atmosphere continued inside local businesses and side streets throughout downtown.

At Radiance Winery’s tasting room, the Hometown Harvest Apple Blossom Art Show displayed watercolor paintings, mixed-media work and student art from Manson and Chelan schools. The exhibit blended regional artists with younger creators, giving visitors a quieter place to explore between parade entries and festival events. Student artwork brought much of the energy to the room, with colorful orchard scenes, spring blossoms and local landscapes covering the walls alongside work from established regional artists.

To the sides of the parade, a small street fair filled the stretch of downtown with local crafters, handmade goods and food vendors serving festival crowds throughout the afternoon. Booths offered jewelry, artwork, home décor and specialty crafts while food trucks and stands added the familiar scent of kettle corn and grilled meat to the festival corridor. Visitors moved between vendors carrying churros, shaved ice, dirty sodas, tacos and tortas as parade traffic slowly gave way to an afternoon crowd lingering downtown.

Taken separately, the parade, art show and street fair may each have felt modest in scale. Together, though, they created the kind of atmosphere that has sustained Manson Apple Blossom for more than a century: a festival rooted less in spectacle than in participation, familiarity and the feeling that nearly everyone in town has some role to play in it.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media