Sunday, October 6 from 10 am to 4 p.m. is the day to celebrate apples in historic Steilacoom on the shores of Puget Sound. The 40th annual Squeeze will be held on Lafayette Street and is a great event for all ages. It is sponsored by the Steilacoom Historical Museum to raise funds for maintaining historical properties and programs.
Press apples into cider the old-fashioned way using hand-operated presses with a delicious mix of apples provided. We also sell the award winning Lattin’s Country Cider already pasteurized in jugs. No home grown apples are accepted.
There will be toe tapping music all day. Jeanlizabeth, Spot the Dog, Kristi and Steve Nebel, and Alicia Healey with Eileen Cuba will perform. Danny Marshall, Steilacoom Tribal storyteller, will relate tales in the Museum Educational Room off Main Street at 2:00.
Quality handcraft booths and a variety of food booths will line Lafayette Street. Crafts will include woodworking, fabric art, jewelry, fine arts and more. Many of the food booths relate to the apple such as apple pie, apple butter on bread, apple fritters, caramel apples, hot spiced cider, and cider floats. Activities for children will include games, pumpkin walks, and face painting. Pony rides begin at noon. The new 2013 Museum Calendar full of beautiful photos of Steilacoom will be hot off the press and available for sale.
Tree expert Bob Hartman and his friends will be at the Apple Identification Booth to give you information about growing apples locally and they will try to identify your unknown varieties if you bring them some apples and leaves.
While the event is sponsored by the Steilacoom Museum Association, other community groups participate also. The Key Club from the Steilacoom High School will be organizing children’s activities, local Boy Scout Troop #71 helps in the press area, and the Pioneer Middle School Builder’s Club lends a hand putting apples into buckets for the presses. Youth from St. John Bosco will be lending a hand as well.
Steilacoom pioneer Nathaniel Orr learned orchard management in Oregon after traveling the Oregon Trail, and was responsible for many of the orchards in the developing pioneer town. Some of his trees survive today, making the apple connection to this town very real. His 1854 home and wagon shop will be open, with docents to give tours and information on early Steilacoom, the first incorporated town in the state.
When in town look for the many scarecrows, some with an apple theme, around Steilacoom They are competing for prizes for the most unique. The Bair Drug and Hardware Store, ( c. 1895) a living museum and restaurant, displays artifacts as well as serving food and beverage. The Steilacoom Historical Museum as well as the Steilacoom Tribal Museum will be open. For more information go to steilacoomhistorical.org or call 253-584-4133.