In her second go round as the assistant manager of the CH Moore Homestead, Joey Woolridge is taking the reigns and introducing something new to the 2014 festival.
According to Woolridge, she will be introducing a history lesson into this year's event. She explains one of the stories she has prepared is the story of a DeWitt County resident many years ago known as the apple wizard.
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Along with his desire to find such an apple containing the characteristics he wanted, Woolridge notes, he had some very progressive ideas that did not make him very popular with the locals.
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After a long life lived in poverty and later sickness, the man was finally able to produce the apple he was striving for. According to Woolridge, by the late 1800s, this apple was the top producing apple in the country.
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The story of Peter Gideon was turned into a book in the 60s and 70s. According to Woolridge, the author purchased the house of Gideon from his days in Minnesota.
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Woolridge says that is just one of the many fascinating stories she has prepared for the weekend. She hopes to hold sessions throughout the weekend on the front lawn of the Homestead grounds and has plans to have signage prepared for those attending to be made aware.
Full coverage of the 2014 Apple and Pork Festival can be heard all weekend on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM WHOW and on 95.9 FM WEZC.
WEZC will broadcast the event while Eastern Illinois football is on WHOW Saturday. Game time for Panther football is 1 pm, as EIU travels to Ohio.
Apple and Pork coverage on the Miller Media Group radio stations gets underway Saturday morning at 10 am and lasts until 5 pm. Then Sunday tune in to WHOW for coverage from 11 am to 4 pm.
