While you can experience the sights, smells, and sweet tastes of the Louisburg Cider Mill all year ‘round — there’s nothing like the season of fall. We love getting to be a part of both new and old traditions carried on by families and friends. The Cider Mill is more than just fall festivities and fun, it’s a place to make lasting memories that keep you coming back for more!
Every year, thousands of people make the drive to experience all that we have to offer (fresh cider donuts, anyone?). And every year we try to make it just a little bit better than the last.
During the fall, we have so many activities for people to enjoy. The Cider Mill is up and running, apples are always being freshly pressed, and donuts are made fresh on the daily. In addition to all of that, our Family Farm is active, featuring our pumpkin patch, 10-acre corn maze, jump pillow, and many other activities that families can do together.
Our Family Farm will be opening September 13th and will stay open through October 31st.
Behind the Scenes Look
Fall is quickly approaching, which means the preparation has already begun at Louisburg Cider Mill! From the Cider Mill and cider donuts to the pumpkin patch and corn maze, our team works hard day in and day out to prep and get ready for fall to make its arrival!
Here’s a behind the scenes look at how we get it done.
The Cider Mill
While you can have the taste of Louisburg Cider during any season, there’s just something about sipping on your favorite cider in the fall that makes everything seem right in the world.
And, we can’t wait to give you that experience again this upcoming season!
Before the first shipment of fresh apples comes in for the fall, we have a crew that dedicates time to getting all of the machinery cleaned, prepped, and ready for cider making.
Did you know it takes 14 pounds of apples to make ONE gallon of Louisburg Cider? With thousands of gallons of cider made every year, there’s quite a bit that goes into giving you the Louisburg Cider we all know and love.
How Louisburg Cider is made:
- Wash and prepare fresh apples
- Pulverize apples into “apple mash”
- Send apples through the press
- Extract juice from the apple mash
- Juice gets processed, bottled, and ready to sell (for you to enjoy)
Fun fact: all of our apple cider is made in the Louisburg barn that was built in the 1800’s, and used to be the Cider Mill and original Country Store.
The Pumpkin Patch
Our pumpkin patch is always a fall favorite among visitors! You and your family and friends can take a stroll through the patch and pick out the perfect pumpkin (or pumpkins) for carving, decorating, making fall treats, and more.
You may have enjoyed picking pumpkins throughout your life, but have you ever wondered what goes into making a bountiful pumpkin patch?
The first step is to plant the seeds. Easy enough, right? But, there’s more to it than simply scattering the seeds. They have to be dropped in certain patterns and certain distances apart… and lucky for us, we have a machine that does the hard work for us!
The machine then reworks the soil over the seeds, while ensuring the right amount of depth is achieved. From there, we let the pumpkins run their course, while providing them with the proper watering and care until they’re fully grown and ready to be harvested by our visitors!
The Corn Maze
We have a blast getting to collaborate and choose the design of the corn maze each year. This year, our team is excited to roll out the Lost Trail Soda Root Beer Corn Maze design! We felt like the “lost trail” theme went hand-in-hand with the whole concept of the maze, so we’re running with it.
For those of you that don’t know, we’ve been brewing and bottling Lost Trail Soda on-site at Louisburg Cider Mill since the 80’s, and wanted to make this maze a special one!
There’s a lot that goes into cutting and designing the maze. To make it simple, once the design has been selected, we then have it “digitized” or made into an image that is translated into pathways for the maze to be cut according to the design (shoutout to technology for making this possible). When it’s all said and done, the result is a beautifully designed maze for our friends to enjoy!
Cider Donuts
We may be known for our cider, but people really come for the cider donuts. These sweet treats are made fresh daily all year long using our famous Louisburg Apple Cider.
To keep up with the demand during the fall, we have the ability to turn up the capacity on all of our machines, which allows us to create about 300 dozen donuts every hour. Yes, that’s A LOT of donuts. However, people have donut needs… and we’re here to meet those needs!
We believe the best way to have a cider donut is to have it fresh. Not only that, but it’s our commitment to never run out of donuts… and we stand by that commitment every day!
Join us for our 41st Annual Ciderfest
As you start making your weekend plans for the fall, be sure and save the dates for our 41st Annual Ciderfest! The Ciderfest kicks off Saturday, September 28th & 29th, and picks back up the following weekend on Saturday October 5th & 6th. Hours are 8:00 am – 6:00 pm.
Don’t miss out on a fun weekend full of fall activities for the whole family to enjoy! There will be live music, cider and donut making, food vendors, craft booths, tons of activities for the kids, and more! There is no admission or parking fees to attend Ciderfest.
You can also visit our pumpkin patch and pick pumpkins, explore our 10 acre corn maze, check out the farm animals, and more at the Family Farm! There is a $10 admission to the Family Farm, and children 3 and under are free. Find more details on the event page!
We look forward to another great season with you at Louisburg Cider Mill! If you have any questions about upcoming events, fall activities, or just want to learn more — get in touch with a team member at Louisburg today. We’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.
