Harvest Carnival At Green Bluff’s Harvest Festival, Picking Fruit Is Becoming Secondary To Rides, Games And Entertainment

Morning dawns early in Green Bluff.

By 8 a.m., the warm, sweet smell of fresh-baked apple pie fills the gift shop at Walters’ Fruit Ranch.

Green Bluff is bustling as farmers prepare for the annual apple harvest festival.

For six weekends in September and October, thousands of city folk flock to Green Bluff for a slice of pie and a slice of country life.

“They come here for the fantasy,” said Donna Siemers, who operates Siemers Pick and Pack with her husband.

Visitors will savor cider, pick apples, and probably buy a Green Bluff T-shirt, key chain, or stuffed animal to take home.

Some Green Bluff growers say without income from souvenir sales, antiques, crafts, hot dogs, pop, hay rides and helicopter rides, Green Bluff would disappear faster than summer strawberries.

Instead, for many farmers, business is thriving.

But Green Bluff farming in the ‘90s means more than growing sweet fruit. It’s also marketing, entertaining and performing.

“Without the festivals and entertainment it would be slow-going,” said Mark Morrell, president of the Green Bluff Growers.

Twenty years ago, families drove to the rolling hills north of Spokane for 50 pounds of apples or peaches to be frozen, canned or baked into pies and jams.

“Now, younger women want to come out here with their families to relax after a week at work,” said Morrell. “If they buy 5 pounds of apples, it’s a lot.”

The way to make up the difference, growers decided, was to bring many more people to the rolling hills west of Mount Spokane.

Now there’s a festival for every season in Green Bluff.

It begins in May with strawberries, picks up in July with two weekends of the Cherry Festival, then continues with the peach and apple festivals, and doesn’t end until the last pumpkin leaves the fields for Halloween.

“It’s becoming more and more impossible to make a living,” said Mel Walker, who was born 75 years ago in the Green Bluff house where he still lives.

“We used to deliver to 22 stores,” he said. “Now they only buy from wholesale houses.”

When seasonal employees became scarce - and expensive - farmers turned to “U-pick,” offering city visitors the chance to pick their own corn, cherries or apples.

The added benefit was that farmers could sell directly to consumers - and be paid right away.

The first Green Bluff apple festival was organized 15 years ago so visitors could celebrate the homey aromas, flavors and fun of the autumn harvest.

Crafts were sold at the grange hall, there were pumpkin carving and pie-baking contests.

About 600 people came to the apple festival in 1982. Four times that many now flock to the festival in a single day.

No one stops to count the number of festival visitors.

“Hundreds of thousands,” guesses Morrell.

Sheriff’s department volunteers direct traffic at intersections on weekends.

Green Bluff residents who don’t farm bite their tongues when apple-picking people park in their driveways.

Gift shops have replaced apple sheds. Corn and hay mazes complete with gorillas or storybook characters have sprouted everywhere.

The Froot Loop Express at Walters’ Fruit Farm - trains pulled by freshly painted tractors - carry passengers through the orchards and fields. Harvest House has offered helicopter rides for years.

“You don’t realize what a small area this is until you take the helicopter ride,” said Marilyn Beck, Harvest House owner. “I don’t look at it as an amusement, it’s another glimpse of Green Bluff, another view of what we do here.”

How far away can the first roller coaster be?

Spokane County Planning Commissioners asked similar questions last spring when approving a zoning code amendment officially allowing the sale - with a permit - of non-farm items such as T-shirts and stuffed toys in the agricultural zone.

Permits can be purchased for as little as two months, or up to eight months.

More than one commissioner wondered if the beautiful farmland risks trading its agriculture roots for a theme park future.

Is Green Bluff going the way of Nut Tree or Knott’s Berry Farm, two California theme parks that started as roadside produce businesses?

In Spokane County, recreational facilities, roller coasters and such are allowed in general agriculture zones, but would require special permits, public hearings and approval from the hearing examiner.

Green Bluff farmers scoff.

“I don’t think we’ll see anything like that until there’s a freeway going through Green Bluff,” said Beck. “It’s a long, long ways before Green Bluff gets to that point. We’ll be sold off for houses long before that happens.”

“A roller coaster is too much of an investment,” said Donna Siemers. “And then there’s the insurance.”

Not everyone on the bluff approves of the marketing mania.

“We only sell what we raise here - that’s not the case with everyone,” said Bonny Walker. “We sell the fresh fruit and vegetables raised on our farm, we aren’t here to run a zoo or rides.”

But the Walkers are enthusiastic supporters of community-oriented activities including the Cherry Picker’s Trot, and they work on fundraisers for the volunteer fire department.

Cindy Lease, who’s family owns the Green Bluff Trading Post, said the apple festival is crucial to their business and they support it wholeheartedly.

“It means our taxes get paid,” said Lease.

They’ve owned the store for three years, and strive to add their own bit of excitement to the festival. Their 1950s car show, beer garden bands and petting zoo are becoming tradition.

“It’s busy, you work a lot of long, hard hours, but it’s worth it,” Lease said.

The Cherry Festival, two weeks in July, is almost as popular as the apple harvest.

Morrell estimates the cherry-picking crowd at 6,000. Events include the cherry pit spit, and the Cherry Picker’s Trot, a wildly popular four-mile run through the Green Bluff countryside.

“It was the most well-attended trot ever,” said Morrell. “We had more runners than we’ve ever seen.”

Lease worries how far farmers will take their commercial endeavors.

“We are the only ones who can do the beer garden. We are the only place zoned for business here,” she said.

She also questions the county approving permits to sell non-agricultural items from farms for up to eight months each year.

Morrell escorts about 10,000 students a year through his ranch. His doors open with the first strawberries in May and business doesn’t slow down until the last Christmas gift apple box is shipped.

Some growers are even talking about an apple blossom festival in the future to bring visitors to the bluff for Mother’s Day.

Mel Walker said he’s content to sell his produce to faithful customers who make a special trip to his farm.

“We were involved with the direct marketing group when it first started, but now it’s too much of a carnival,” she said.

Even those deep into the marketing of Green Bluff say the line has to be drawn and quality closely guarded.

“I don’t want to see Green Bluff become a big flea market,” said Byron Siemers.

“This is farm-oriented, people aren’t ready to come out here for an amusement park,” said Beck.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)

MEMO: These 2 sidebars appeared with the story:

1. THE WAY THERE Green Bluff is about 10 miles northeast of the Division Street Y. Take Highway 2 to the Green Bluff turnoff and follow the signs. Participating farms are marked with a “Big Red Apple” sign.

2. EVENTS Apple Festival runs six weekends this year: Sept. 20 through Oct. 26. Events include U-pick apples, live music, food, crafts, mazes, animals, double-decker bus tours. Apple Picker’s Volkswalk Sept. 20 and 21 - A 6.2-mile walk through the orchards of Green Bluff on a pre-marked course. Walk begins at 8 a.m.; starts and finishes at Wellens farms. Although the festival events are held only on the weekends, produce is sold every day when it is ripe at Green Bluff.