The Apple-Scrapple Festival
Twenty two years ago several of Bridgeville’s finest began discussing ways of promoting the town and the agriculture industry that is so prevalent in western Sussex County. After tossing ideas around, this clever group of people came up with …. a festival!!
It would be held in the small town of Bridgeville on the second full weekend in October. Now, what theme would best represent Sussex County and in particular, Bridgeville? Apples and scrapple!!
Some of the best apples around are grown nearby and since agriculture is a leading industry in the area, it seemed like a good idea to showcase them. It’s hard to drive through Bridgeville during the summer and NOT notice the distinctive smell of scrapple being processed. RAPA Scrapple was incorporated in 1926 and has been producing those tasty blocks of scrapple ever since. So… the Apple Scrapple Festival was born.
The Festival still has many of those original founders working year round, organizing the entertainment, food court and vendors that flood into town on that weekend each year. These volunteers hold regular jobs and work to promote the festival in their spare time.
“Apple Scrapple” has grown from 2500 visitors in 1992 to over 25,000 now and was incorporated in 2002. It has become a major fundraiser for local community organizations and helps elevate awareness of the agricultural profession in lower Delaware.
Festivities begin at 4:00 pm on Friday evening with the carnival, food court and street dance. Things start up again on Saturday morning with an “all you can eat” scrapple breakfast from 7:00 to 11:00 am. The rest of the day is filled with carnival rides, kids’ games, scrapple chunkin’, scrapple carving, live entertainment, car show, tractor pull, trade show, two craft shows and any kind of food that you can imagine including apple fritters, scrapple sandwiches, oyster sandwiches, hamburgers and hotdogs, barbecue beef sandwiches, ice cream and much more. The Festival is handicapped accessible.
There is something for all ages and all appetites at this exciting event, which begins at 4:00 pm on Friday afternoon and runs until the street dance is over on Saturday evening.
Be a part of all the excitement that IS the Apple Scrapple Festival!