Caramel apples coated in memories
Festival tradition continues for half-century.By: Tom Lawrence, The Daily Republic
- Caramel apples
- Caramel apple crew
It’s a bite of the past, covered in melted caramel.
Caramel apples are on sale in downtown Mitchell this week, as they have been every Corn Palace Festival week but one for more than 50 years. Dozens of volunteers prepare the apples and sell thousands to raise money for three local organizations.
“It’s important,” said Karen Pooley, of Wholesale Electronics, who is in her 11th year as a core member of the apple crew.
“It’s a great community project,” said Brenda Olesen, of Einstein’s Costume Rental and the Antique Mall. “And we raise enough money to keep our organization rolling.”
The goal is to sell 5,000 apples at $3.50 apiece, with the profits going to Mitchell Main Street & Beyond, the Carnegie Resource Center and Mitchell Community Hospice. Last year, the apple crew sold 4,920.
“We want to be the flavor of Corn Palace week, the No. 1 flavor of the Corn Palace,” Olesen said. “That’s our goal, to sell an apple to every man, women and child who lives in Mitchell. It would be cool.”
The main volunteers gather at Einstein’s starting at the crack of dawn during the Corn Palace Festival. There are three shifts for the daily workers: noon to 3 p.m., 3 to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. until “cleanup,” whenever that is, Pooley said.
Earlier this week, she got to the store at 7 a.m. and went home at 11 p.m.
She was first exposed to Corn Palace caramel apples as a girl growing up in rural Mount Vernon.
They were sold during the festival at Woolworth’s. The famed dime store had been in Mitchell since 1916, but it expanded to a larger downtown location in 1959 and opened during Corn Palace Week, as the festival was then called.
Gerry Adams was the main caramel apple cook for more than 30 years. Adams said while tradition states the first coated apples were made and sold for a dime in 1959, she thinks it was a few years later.
Adams, 92, said when she got to work in the mornings during the festival week, she would immediately dip 200 caramel apples.
“Then we kept making them all day until we closed at night,” she said.
“The first thing about them is, I didn’t eat them myself,” Adams said. “I didn’t mind making them. I liked making them.”
She said she especially liked showing kindergarten students how to dip the apples in the melted candy. Adams also sent apples over to a radio station so the staff would snack on them and promote their sales.
“Good advertising, you know,” she said with a laugh. “It was just kind of fun doing those things.”
Adams isn’t sure how many caramel apples she made, but since she was instrumental in making more than 5,000 in 1991, according to Woolworth’s, and made about 3,500 the year before, the total is in the tens of thousands.
When Woolworth’s closed in 1993, the apple-making equipment was donated to the local hospice group. Adams said she went downtown the next festival to offer some tips but hasn’t touched a caramel apple since.
“It was a lot of work,” she said. “People still come up to me and tell me they think I should make the apples again. They just don’t taste the same anymore.”
The reason for that, Adams said, is that Kraft doesn’t produce the cans of caramel that it did when she was the queen of caramel apples.
“Kraft made the best caramel, as far as I’m concerned,” Adams said.
She may be retired, but her memory is still honored by the apple crew.
“She has nothing to do with caramel apples,” Pooley said. “But she sure did her share and then some.”
“We want to be a Gerry,” Olesen said. “That’s our goal.”
Olesen keeps putting in the long hours because she knows it will help MMS&B “enhance the look and feel of downtown.” It’s one of MMS&B’s primary fundraisers, and its executive director, Molly Goldsmith, is kept busy delivering apples and running errands.
The tradition almost died a decade ago. The hospice stopped making the apples after 2000, and there were no apples offered for sale in 2001.
The Uptown Business Association took over from the hospice in 2002 and, when the group evolved into Mitchell Main Street & Beyond, the decision was made to keep it going.
Connie “The Cook” Henning is in charge of the apple preparation. She stirs and keeps a close eye on the caramel before the apples are quickly dipped and rolled.
They emerge coated in a glistening brown.
The apples are sold either in a bowl or on a stick. The bowl is more popular “by far,” Pooley said.
They use Braeburn’s, a high-quality apple, and volunteers roll and clean the apples before they are dipped in the hot candy.
The volunteers, including many supporters of the Carnegie Resource Center and others with MMS&B, help determine which apples can be dipped and which ones need to be sliced for bowls. Most enjoy a caramel apple from time to time, but even though they are working for free, they pay for the apples they eat.
“You have to have somebody who understands the end result behind it,” Olesen said. “That’s what makes a good volunteer.”
It’s the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Carnegie, Pooley said.
The apple crew added foot-long hot dogs and walking tacos a few years ago and also sells pop. They said offering delivery of 10 or more apples has been a big boost.
Olesen said they hope to get more businesses and companies with a lot of employees to order apples.
“Just call and we will deliver,” she said.
People can also buy gift coupons to give to people coming downtown for the carnival or a concert.
Olesen is shipping some to her mother in Yankton, while Pooley is sending some to family members in Denver.
The one thing they won’t do is reveal the secret recipe for making the caramel so soft, sweet and tasty.
“We could tell you,” Olesen said. “But then we’d have to take you out back.”
She was first exposed to Corn Palace caramel apples as a girl growing up in rural Mount Vernon.
They were sold during the festival at Woolworth’s. The famed dime store had been in Mitchell since 1916, but it expanded to a larger downtown location in 1959 and opened during Corn Palace Week, as the festival was then called.
Gerry Franks was the main caramel apple cook for more than 30 years.
Franks said while tradition states the first coated apples were made and sold for a dime in 1959, she thinks it was a few years later.
Franks, 92, said when she got to work in the mornings during the festival week, she would immediately dip 200 caramel apples.
“Then we kept making them all day until we closed at night,” she said.
“The first thing about them is, I didn’t eat them myself,” Franks said. “I didn’t mind making them. I liked making them.”
She said she especially liked showing kindergarten students how to dip the apples in the melted candy. Franks also sent apples over to a radio station so the staff would snack on them and promote their sales.
“Good advertising, you know,” she said with a laugh. “It was just kind of fun doing those things.”
Franks isn’t sure how many caramel apples she made, but since she was instrumental in making more than 5,000 in 1991, according to Woolworth’s, and made about 3,500 the year before, the total is in the tens of thousands.
When Woolworth’s closed in 1993, the apple-making equipment was donated to the local hospice group. Franks said she went downtown the next festival to offer some tips but hasn’t touched a caramel apple since.
“It was a lot of work,” she said. “People still come up to me and tell me they think I should make the apples again. They just don’t taste the same anymore.”
The reason for that, Franks said, is that Kraft doesn’t produce the cans of caramel that it did when she was the queen of caramel apples.
“Kraft made the best caramel, as far as I’m concerned,” Franks said.
She may be retired, but her memory is still honored by the apple crew.
“She has nothing to do with caramel apples,” Pooley said. “But she sure did her share and then some.”
“We want to be a Gerry,” Olesen said. “That’s our goal.”
Olesen keeps putting in the long hours because she knows it will help MMS&B “enhance the look and feel of downtown.” It’s one of MMS&B’s primary fundraisers, and its executive director, Molly Goldsmith, is kept busy delivering apples and running errands.
The tradition almost died a decade ago. The hospice stopped making the apples after 2000, and there were no apples offered for sale in 2001.
The Uptown Business Association took over from the hospice in 2002 and, when the group evolved into Mitchell Main Street & Beyond, the decision was made to keep it going.
Connie “The Cook” Henning is in charge of the apple preparation. She stirs and keeps a close eye on the caramel before the apples are quickly dipped and rolled.
They emerge coated in a glistening brown.
The apples are sold either in a bowl or on a stick. The bowl is more popular “by far,” Pooley said.
They use Braeburn’s, a high-quality apple, and volunteers roll and clean the apples before they are dipped in the hot candy.
The volunteers, including many supporters of the Carnegie Resource Center and others with MMS&B, help determine which apples can be dipped and which ones need to be sliced for bowls. Most enjoy a caramel apple from time to time, but even though they are working for free, they pay for the apples they eat.
“You have to have somebody who understands the end result behind it,” Olesen said. “That’s what makes a good volunteer.”
It’s the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Carnegie, Pooley said.
The apple crew added foot-long hot dogs and walking tacos a few years ago and also sells pop. They said offering delivery of 10 or more apples has been a big boost.
Olesen said they hope to get more businesses and companies with a lot of employees to order apples.
“Just call and we will deliver,” she said. The phone number is 630-0083.
People can also buy gift coupons to give to people coming downtown for the carnival or a concert.
Olesen is shipping some to her mother in Yankton, while Pooley is sending some to family members in Denver.
The one thing they won’t do is reveal the secret recipe for making the caramel so soft, sweet and tasty.
“We could tell you,” Olesen said. “But then we’d have to take you out back.”
Tags: corn palace, life, updates, food, festival
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