Community Focus
Editor: Grace Corey
A Day at Apple Butter Makin' Days
It’s early on the morning of Friday, October 8, 2021. You had a nice breakfast and are ready to head to the Apple Butter Makin’ Days festival and eat as much fair food as you can stand, watch some performances, and of course, get back home for a good night's sleep before tomorrow’s parade.
You end up starting your adventure on the Northern side of the Square, near the Spirit of 76 park. You park your car and get out. You browse the booths, and some catch your eye with neat little knick-knacks. The root beer booth is in the same spot as always, and while the line isn’t so bad now, that’s sure to change soon. And yet, amidst all the vendors shouting and food grilling, you can’t help but wonder, what is the school doing this ABMD?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. Officially, there are four booths tied to the school, but many of our students and teachers help out with booths related to their own personal interests. Of course, the latter is not the focus of this story.
As you make your way down the eastern side of the Courthouse, a particular booth catches your eye. There’s a teenager in a corn costume. As you watch, fascinated, he begins a shout that the others at his booth quickly pick up.
“Hey, hey, what do you say!? Buy some corn from the F-F-A!”
While corn on the cob doesn’t sound appealing at the moment, a burger and an iced drink sound amazing. You pull out your wallet.
You eat your burger at one of the picnic tables alongside the Courthouse, and then get back on the street to continue making your way south. You then catch sight of another costumed teenager. This time they’re dressed as a pickle. They appear to be asking people on the other end of the street if they want free samples. You look to your right as the smell of fried food washes over you. The Marching Mountaineers are selling fried pickles. They are also selling bottled water, but that isn’t advertised as much. But does the band have a booth?
According to Izzy Rutherford, a junior and band member who worked the stand, “It’s done to fund band projects and trips, along with instrument repairs and the buying of newer equipment.”
According to her, “Everyone in band is involved. Everyone has to pick up a shift to keep the booth running. Both students and parents help run it.”
The parents have to help because the students can’t run the booth while they’re marching in the parade Saturday morning. Not to mention the pickles are fried right before your eyes, and not every student can handle the frying equipment.
You decide to order some fried pickles to eat while you watch whatever performance is coming up next on the main stage. The students working the register takes your money and soon a fresh basket of fried pickles is handed to you.
He asks if you want any ranch with that. You say yes, please. “On the top or on the side?” “Surprise me,” you say. He decides to put it on the side.
Enjoying your pickles, you make your way to the main stage. The Show Choir performance is about to start soon, as it turns out. You furrow your brow at that. You don’t remember them doing so last year.
As Mrs. McBaine explains, ”We didn’t have a place to perform in past years because the church we performed at was sold, and then they offered a place on the stage this year.”
As for this year's show? “It’s called Welcome to Transylvania. It has an Addams family vibe. It’s kind of a creepy kooky, more kooky, show.”
Although the Show Choir only performed three of their show’s seven songs, they dominated the stage. It was amazing to see, especially after COVID.
“I’m so excited to be doing live performing,” Mrs. McBaine adds. “It was like musicians couldn’t be doing what our hearts loved. It was sad.”
There should be other performances after the show choir, so you decide to get a snack to tide you over until then. Looking to the left of the main stage, you spot a booth selling apple dumplings and ice cream. It just so happens that the booth belongs to the Mt. Vernon cheer team.
As you begin to approach the small booth you acknowledge the familiar faces of the cheerleaders you’ve seen from a multitude of MVHS football games, the enriching smell of sweet cinnamon and sugar fills the air and your stomach grumbles over the idea of enjoying a sugary caramelized, fluffy apple dumpling topped with sweet ice cream. You also learn that the small booth is a collaborative work effort run by not only the cheer team but also the MVHS dance team, the Coquettes. You are also informed that the Coquette members are busy getting ready to perform on the main stage.
You ask for an apple dumpling and the cheerleaders are quick to swiftly greet you with a smile and the sweet treat in return. You exchange your money and send off a quick “thank you” before your progressing curiosity leads you away from the booth back towards the main stage, eager to see the Coquettes perform on the stage.
You maneuver your way through the ever growing crowd of people and even pass by a line of people holding onto each other's shoulders. A conga line? Seems like a normal enough way to prevent losing your friends among the sea of people.
A few minutes after passing by strangers (and a few bites of apple dumpling later) you find yourself back in front of the main stage dedicated to Apple Butter Makin’ Days performances. You see everyone guiding their attention towards the stage and settling into their seats. You realize that the coquettes’ performance is about to start.
You can see the hint of bright, glittery sequins behind the stage and your anticipation for the performance grows more and more. A quick announcement is said through the speaker and then the Coquettes take the stage. The performers are dressed perfectly for the occasion stunting green sequins and white and green glitzy pom poms.
The performance of course is eye-catching and vividly entertaining. The dancers execute all their dance moves perfectly and you seem to get groovy yourself moving your head to the music as you watch all the dancers move their arms to the sound.
You recognize one of the dancers on the stage as you watch to be the familiar face of MVHS Coquette member Daniela Salas. You remember seeing her working the Interact club booth and now know that she must also be working the apple dumpling cheer/coquette booth as well.
You will later meet up with her again and she will inform you that “the money we get from the cheer and Coquette booth goes towards helping pay for new uniforms and other supplies.” She follows up by saying, “All the Coquette members and cheerleaders have to help run the booth. It’s a team effort and all of us are working together to raise money.”
You cheer for the Coquette members as they walk off the stage and throw your now empty apple dumpling container away. You feel very grateful that you got to witness such amazing performances and enjoy such delicious food.
After seeing all that, you’re ready to go home. You look at some booths along the way as you head back home. The next day, you get up bright and early to watch the parade!
Next Mountaineer Serve Day slated for Nov. 23
“America was founded on volunteerism, and so if we don’t have volunteers, our country, in my opinion, will cease to exist as it is currently,” said Jay Shepherd, agriculture teacher and FFA co-sponsor. That’s why he’s excited for Nov. 23 when students can participate in the next Mountaineer Serve Day and focus on giving of themselves for the higher purpose of helping others.
Though early on Mountaineer Serve Day was positioned at various points in the school calendar, Mr. Shepherd explained, “We’ve settled on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.” He said that time is ideal because “it just makes people reflect and think about thanking others and being thankful. What better way to do that than to serve someone else?”
Mr. Shepherd is a firm believer in teaching students the value in serving others. He said society has “inundated” young people with the message “if it’s not good for me, don’t do it.” That’s why teachers have to address it at school, he said.
Mountaineer Serve Day, in its current form, has been an MVHS tradition since 2018. Mr. Shepherd said it began when an FFA committee was planning their community service projects and wondered what it would be like if the whole school got involved.
The tradition was put on hold last year due to COVID-19, to the disappointment of many. Mr. Shepherd said when they began the planning stages for this year, “what we found was that the juniors and seniors remember it, but the freshmen and sophomores were not really sure what we were talking about.”
Mr. Shepherd remembers that when he first started talking to a group of freshmen about the event, a senior said, “That’s my favorite day of the whole school year.”
“And it’s just work, but they get the point,” said Mr. Shepherd. “They like that feeling of being able to serve someone else,” even if some of them pretend they don’t care or like to “play it cool.”
Senior Kylee Stockton, the chapter president, is in charge of the committee that will put this year’s Mountaineer Serve Day together. She is currently compiling a list of organizations and businesses the school project has served before and organizing a way to contact each one. The FFA committee members do the work of calling, lining up volunteer spots for everyone.
According to Mr. Shepherd, approximately 90% of the event organization is completed by students, with very little intervention on the part of the agriculture teachers. Administration, Ms. Johnston and other teachers have also done a lot to support these students’ work. “It’s a big team effort,” Mr. Shepherd said.
“If the students are doing the work to organize it, in our mind that’s teaching real leadership, not just ‘fluffy principals,’” explained Mr. Shepherd.