by Bob Groeneveld/Special to the Langley Advance
A taste of history is coming to Derby Reach… literally.
Anyone who has ever wondered what apples used to taste like years ago can find out at Apple Day in Derby Reach Regional Park.
The celebration of apples and history takes place in the park’s heritage area, at 10716 Allard Cres., across the street from the Houston Trail parking lot.
There will be apple-tasting, as well as information about growing apples, from fertilizing trees to dealing with apple pests, as well as interactive fun – like a mechanical apple-peeler – to inform and amuse kids.
PAST COVERAGE: Apple Day sampling worked into tradition for one Langley family
“Probably the centrepiece is always the apples,” said Joakim Nilsson of the Derby Reach and Brae Island Park Association, which hosts Apple Day annually with Metro Vancouver Regional Parks.
But there will be more: “Interpreters from the national historic fort at Fort Langley will come dressed up in period costumes, and kids get to learn about the kinds of chores that kids would have done back in the 18th and 19th century.”
“LEPS (Langley Environmental Partners Society) will have a display,” he said, “and here will also be a group of plein air artists, and hopefully, if the weather is decent, they will be out there painting the landscapes.”
“It’s near one of the oldest orchards in B.C., dating back to the late 1800s,” explained Nilsson. “We will have a guided tour of the heritage orchard. There are still some of the old trees.”
It’s a fitting spot to participate in an apple-tasting that will include up to two dozen different varieties – “Not the run-of-the-mill apples you find in the store, but quite a variety of apples most people have never heard of,” Nilsson explained.
They’re the kinds of apples that Derry Walsh is particularly fond of.
Walsh will be with some folks representing the Master Gardeners and the BC Fruit Testers Association, dispensing valuable information about apples, from growing them to helping to put names to backyard apples whose identities have long been forgotten.
“The BC fruit testers will have a display of apples, all labelled with a little bit about their history,” said Walsh, “And the master gardeners will be answering questions from the public about why their apples are not thriving, or what’s wrong with their apples.”
Walsh and others will have some small grafted apple trees for sale, although Nilsson is quick to point out that they will be the only things people will be able to buy at the free, family-friendly event.
Walsh knows her stuff. It’s partly because of her that Apple Day is possible.
“At Derby Reach there were some trees planted along the banks of the river,” she explained.
“If you walk along the waterfront from the old cairn, there used to be old apple trees along that pathway, and I propagated them onto younger, newer trees, so they would not get lost. Some of the (original trees) have died since then.”
Her effort with heritage apples inspired the DRBIPA and Metro Parks to start Apple Day.
And it was heritage apples that brought her to Langley in the first place.
“It started when I was living in Vancouver, and I wanted a couple of apple trees,” she said.
“ I had to come down to Langley – in those days that took a long time – and get some rootstocks from the Traas family. They came out from Holland in the 1950s and started growing rootstock on 240th Street. Nobody was doing that here at the time. They grew the rootstocks and shipped them all over Canada.”
When her husband retired, they moved to five acres in Aldergrove.
“We were looking for a little more excitement than Vancouver,” she said, “and I got into apple trees then.”
She opted for heritage apples – which really are just apple varieties from before about 1960 – because they grow better here than most of the newer varieties, Nilsson explained.
She likes the taste of the older apples, too.
“The modern apple is usually very red, it doesn’t have scab, and it’s juicy” she said. “But it doesn’t have much apple flavour. Now, if you go to the Gravensteins and orencos, they have flavour as well as the red colour.”
Apple Day, said Walsh, “is all about getting the public thinking about apples, and Derby Reach is quite a nice setting, you know?”
The 14th annual Apple Day celebrations happen this Saturday, Sept. 29, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Derby Reach Regional Park’s heritage area.
“Depending on the weather, we usually get anywhere from 700 to 900 people,” Nilsson said. “It’s a nice-sized event, and definitely different interactive experiences for the kids. We try to appeal to a variety of audiences. Come down and get some apple advice and taste some of the apples – and there’s apple peeling!”