October 13, 2004
Cider party impressive gathering
Washington Street neighbors take turns cranking out nearly 50 gallons of cider
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Friends and neighbors gathered Sunday afternoon for an old-fashioned cider pressing, turning a block of Washington Street into a community gathering.
The nearly 50 attendees shared a potluck meal while almost everyone took a turn making cider. Duties ranged from soaking and sorting apples to grinding and pressing them to pouring the finished product into gallon jugs. Between 45-48 gallons of cider were pressed by the end of the event.
"Everybody took one or two gallons home," said Robin Nance, whose front lawn boasted two large bins of apples for the pressing. "It was so great to have it in the front yard, it's always great memories and fun for the kids."
"Our hope is to try and bring the neighborhood together," she added.
The cider party included a number of families who started the tradition an estimated dozen years ago. All had students at Interlochen Pathfinder school and for years they gathered every fall at Steve and Mary Davis' house in Suttons Bay.
The Davises, who own the cider press, moved to Washington Street in 2002 but the cider party got lost in the shuffle last fall. This year, some of the core families were determined to resurrect the tradition and the Davises were more than willing to loan their press again.
Organizers first received the city's permission to block off part of the street for the event. Then they invited other families from the Oak Park neighborhood as well as friends from Pathfinder, creating a mini-neighborhood block party with a twist. Literally, as dozens of hands turned the crank or wound the wheel on the cider press thousands of times throughout the afternoon.
"It's getting people outdoors on a beautiful day and there's people on the street here that we've gotten to know," Mary Davis said. "This is a great neighborhood anyway, there's the music at the park in the summer."
The group worked through two large crates of apples donated by Dave Kroupa on the Old Mission Peninsula. They poured the resulting cider into dozens of gallon jugs donated by a store in Lake Leelanau.
The apples were a mix of Rome, Northern Spy, Ida Red and Golden Delicious, making a tart-sweet cider.
"I've never made cider before, it's good," said Jacob Gerstner, 9, after taking a turn on the wheel to grind the apples before pressing. "It tastes better than the store."
During the afternoon, a dozen or two children romped around the street, making new friendships and new games with equal fervor.
"It took a couple of hours, but by two or three o'clock they started clotting together in this huge band of kids and setting up cones and doing things together," Nance noted.
"They organized their own games and they have lots of ideas for next year and I'd like to see it coming from the kids. Ideas about different stations for different games, like foursquare and hopscotch," she said.