Hundreds attended Pioneer Museum’s 2025 Apple Fest

(Lander, WY) – The parking lots were full and Main Street was lined with cars for Apple Fest 2025 this past weekend in Lander at the Pioneer Museum.

In a weekend that saw the Fremont Toyota soccer Shootout Tournament, the Gravel Grinder bike race, Wings and Wheels at Hunt Field, and even more events, hundreds of attendees stopped by the Pioneer Museum to experience some of Lander’s rich apple history.

(You can hear/learn more about that apple history from the Pioneer Museum’s Randy Wise in his recent Coffee Time interview!)

This year’s attendees got to enjoy fresh-pressed cider, apple slingshots, kids’ activities galore, horse rides (don’t worry, the surrey will be repaired and ready for next year!), applesauce chugging contests, music from Uke Can Too, and of course, the famous apple pie contest.

The sole entrant in this year’s kids’ competition, Haven Harmelink, nabbed first place and received a $25 cash prize. And for the adult category, Cheryl Wise won the Honorable Mention; Morgan Kennedy took 3rd place and $30; Bill Elder finished in 2nd place and received $45 for his Caramel Apple Pecan Pie; and 1st place/$75 went to Dakota Twist’s Golden Harvest Apple Pie.

The Pioneer Museum and Apple Fest organizers also shared the following shout-out on their Facebook page.

“We had a wonderful day for Apple Fest and well over 600 people joined us at the museum for the apple events. As usual we couldn’t do this without the support of a lot of volunteers – many thanks to the Pioneer Association for the apples, running the apple presses, manning the pie sales. The LVHS National Honor Society students helped with the apple sauce eating contest and crafts, Jack and Diantha States shared their apples and apple knowledge. Leslie and her horse Hailey gave a lot of rides to people (our surrey broke down unfortunately, but we’ll get it going for next year!). Darrel, Aiden and Jane kept the apple slingshots humming and other folks from the Fremont County Historical Society and other volunteers pitched in to make it all work. Thanks!“