Apple Festival: Community to the Core

This year marks the 51 st Apple Festival in the town of Bloomfield. The smell of deliciously fatty foods wafts through the air. The sounds of thrilled children race from the carnival. Whiffle balls are swung at and whiffed. Impressive cars fill the square. Vendors dot the Bloomfield Park and businesses hand out goodies and host drawings to give away big prizes. All these sights, smells, and sounds only provide the framework for the heart of the festival: community.

Friends, even a few who moved away, come to visit. Conversations and laughs with neighbors, school children running, playing, and building memories, meals shared in fellowship with our community.

Individuals spending hours serving non-profits so they can support the needs of our community through the year. These are the core of our annual festival. They are the great reminder that it is in the people that Bloomfield finds its value.

How valuable it is to have neighbors you know by name and trust implicitly. How valuable it is to see children growing up in a community safe enough they can still be sent out by parents to play with waiting friends. How valuable to live in a community where a small group of folks work tirelessly each year to organize a weekend of fun festivities.

Thank you to the Apple Festival Committee for their efforts, especially this year. You have worked through numerous additional constraints only adding to the complexities you face each year. We appreciate your care for our community.

If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to visit the Bloomfield Park this weekend. Take in the sights and sounds, enjoy a tasty treat, and most importantly enjoy a conversation with your friends and neighbors. While you’re at it, come visit the Farmers and Mechanics booth. We’ll be thrilled you stopped by to say hello.

Joshua Riggins is the president of Farmers & Mechanics Federal Bank in Bloomfield, and is committed to providing customers with a reliable and competent banking experience.