The Southington Town Green comes alive tonight as the 57th Southington Apple Harvest Festival kicks off, drawing crowds for apple fritters, live entertainment, vendor booths and family activities across two weekends. This year's event runs October 2 through October 4, then picks back up October 9 through October 11, with an annual parade set for 2 p.m. on October 4.
According to WFSB, the festival typically draws more than 100,000 attendees to the Town Green, a scale that has turned a modest local gathering into one of Connecticut's largest community festivals. Festival organizers told the Southington Town Council on September 25 that the 2026 event secured roughly $70,000 in corporate and community sponsorships, including platinum sponsors Lake Compounce backing the fireworks display and AMR sponsoring the parade, as reported by Citizen Portal.
A Tradition Rooted in 1969
The festival traces back to 1969, when it was created to celebrate local orchard harvests and drew an estimated 20,000 visitors in its first year, back when Southington's population stood at around 29,000, per Our Town Roots. That same year, Zion Lutheran Church parishioner Dorothea “Dot” Czarnota created the festival's now-famous apple fritter recipe after the church received a donated 50-pound bag of flour, according to Zion Lutheran Church. The recipe has reportedly remained unchanged for more than 50 years.
Per WFSB's reporting, Zion Lutheran Church operates the festival's fritter booth, which stays open throughout the week. Church volunteers start kitchen shifts at 4 a.m. to keep up with demand, with fritters priced at $10 per dozen and $6 per half-dozen in 2025 and 2026, the church's own account notes.
Orchard Roots Still Anchor the Town
Southington's harvest theme isn't just nostalgic branding — the town is still home to Rogers Orchards, a family-owned farm established in 1809 that spans 275 acres and 100,000 apple trees, making it Connecticut's largest apple producer, according to Loomis Chaffee. Eight generations of the Rogers family have worked the land, giving the festival's agricultural framing a living, local counterpart.
Getting There and Getting Around
For the 2026 festival, organizers set up free weekend parking along with continuous shuttle bus service running to and from Southington High School, per the Town of Southington's event materials. A special fireworks display is scheduled for Saturday evening, October 3, sponsored by Lake Compounce, with shuttle service extended until 10 p.m. to help move the late crowd out safely.
A Self-Sustaining Festival Budget
Despite its massive footprint, the festival is designed to be financially self-sufficient. Official financial reports for the 2024 festival showed $301,551 in total revenues against $287,213 in expenses, a $14,338 net profit that funded local charitable grants, according to a Patch report. Vendor booth fees have historically been a major income source too, previously raising $96,000 from dozens of food and craft merchants toward an overall event budget of $250,000, per an earlier Patch account.
Patch reported that the 2024 festival required no town revenue to balance its budget. The six-day event fills the Town Green with vendors, music and the smell of frying dough across two weekends each October.
