52nd annual Hartsburg apple butter-making tradition takes place this weekend

The Hartsburg Legion Auxiliary will continue its annual tradition of creating homemade apple butter this weekend for the 52nd year.

The auxiliary invites the community to help with apple peeling and cutting starting at 10 a.m. Friday. Cooking will begin at 6 a.m. Saturday at the Hartsburg American Legion Post 424, 35 S. Second St., Hartsburg.

For many Hartsburg community members, the best part of the tradition is how it brings people together.

Auxiliary Commander Brenda Reeder said that the community has already ordered nearly 425 quarts of the apple butter, with a growing wait list. Every year, volunteers spend hours one weekend in September preparing the butter from 50 boxes of Jonathan apples.

"We'll use all the help we can get," Reeder said.

On Friday morning, volunteers carefully inspect, peel, cut and quarter every last apple in preparation to cook.

"We sit in a great big circle and throw 'em in the tubs. Then the next morning at 6 a.m. we get up and wash all of those and once more, inspect them for bad spots, then cook the apple butter, and you have to stir it constantly in a figure eight," Reeder said.

Reeder, who has lived in Hartsburg her whole life, said the large copper kettles used to cook the apples have been passed down from some of the town's founding families, including the Ackmans, the Hackmanns, the Barners and the Klemmes.

The American Legion Auxiliary began hosting the tradition in 1972 as a fundraiser.

She said the tradition not only raises money for the community but brings Hartsburg residents closer together. Her favorite part of the event is the camaraderie and laughter.

"Spending time with people you've known all your life, peeling. You're sitting in a big circle, here we are cutting up these apples, and everybody's laughing," Reeder said.

"It's hard work, but it's a fun art from the past that has been a bigger part of our community," Reeder added.