Fall is in the air. Leaves are changing color, the temperature is getting colder, and those ugly sweaters are coming out of storage. With each successive fall, people from across the country -- or a few miles away -- gather for the annual Kalona Fall Festival.

But what is so special about the Fall Festival that keeps people coming back every year? Whether you’re a resident of Kalona or occasional festivalgoer, one of the answers to that simple question is Hillcrest Academy’s apple fritters.

Many only know three things about the apple fritters sold at the Kalona Fall Festival: One, they are sold and made by Hillcrest Academy. Two, they are made with apples and coated in cinnamon sugar. Three, they are absolutely delicious. Inside a whole festival celebrating history, maybe it’s time we find out a little bit more than the “deliciousness” of Hillcrest Academy’s apple fritters.

The scene was set back in the 1970s at a Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) meeting, hosted by Les and Carolyn Hochstetler.

“I wasn’t in on most of the meeting, but at one point I heard Cal Graber ask if the PTO could do something for the Kalona Fall Festival. . .  I told them about apple fritters being sold at an MCC sale in another state,” Carolyn recalls.

At the time, the Fall Festival had only been around for two years. Carolyn and Evelyn Fisher dug out a recipe from the Mennonite Community Cookbook by Mary Emma Showalter. The pair whipped up batches of apple fritters following the recipe exactly, except for cutting the sugar in half. Thankfully, a local orchard had donated apples to the PTO to use.

“I remember the first time we fried all the fritters in two electric skillets. They were dropped into lard with a soup spoon, which created oblong and much flatter fritters than the current ones,” explains Carolyn.

As we return to the present, the funds raised from the apple fritters are used to help provide large ticket items beyond budget and supplement classroom budgets for Hillcrest Academy. Eggs are donated by Farmers Hen House, apples are donated by Don and Tami Miller, and paper products are provided by Hills Bank and Yoder Family Farms. The original recipe, which is still used, can be found in the school’s 75th anniversary cookbook, Gather: Telling the story of our school one plate at a time.

The very first apple fritters were sold at the 1974 Kalona Fall Festival.  You can get your 2022 Hillcrest Academy apple fritters at the Kalona Fall Festival on September 23 and 24.