Written By Jan Sims
MIDDLESEX CENTRE - Crunican Orchards is celebrating a milestone, and people are invited to join the festivities.
On Saturday September 13th, Crunicans is marking its 75th anniversary and people are invited to celebrate.
The event will feature apple sampling, a display of farm equipment, and more, at the store’s Richmond St. location north of Birr.
The store opened in 75 years ago and the operation continues to be maintained by members of the Cruinican family. “My father and his brother with their parents started it in 1950. My grandmother came from a business background in Quebec. They had a store and she thought we needed a store to sell the apples. Before that they sold them from the basement of the house,” says Philip Crunican.
Although the store opened in 1950, the farm has been producing apples for more than 100 years. “My grandfather planted the first trees in 1910. He planted close to five acres, which was a lot when most farms only had about a dozen trees. He had a few hundred. He was geared towards producing for wholesale,” says Crunican.
The focus is now on retail, with 90% of the apples sold through the store. The retail location also features a number of other products including pies and cider.
There are 20 different varieties of apples that are grown in the orchard. “Honeycrisp have come on strong in the last 15 years and become out number one seller. There’s lots of old favorites like macs,” says Crunican.
The first apples of the season were available for sale in mid-August and include paula reds and ginger golds. “Early September we’ll have honeycrisp and galas and macs, and shortly after than empires. All of a sudden once September rolls around it’s back to school and apples are ready and it’s go go go,” says Crunican. The apple selection also includes perhaps lesser-known varieties including gravenstein. The last tree that my grandfather planted is a gravenstein, and it’s still producing apples today 115 years later,” says Crunican.
