Volunteers bake pies ahead of Apple Fest
Ann Grende adds pie tops Saturday to apple pies. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Ann Grende prepares to roll dough to add to an apple pie. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Margaret Clay, left, and Dorothy Jenson, pinch crust on apple pies which will be sold Saturday at the Fall Apple Fest at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Polson. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Twenty volunteers assembled apple pies Saturday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Polson for the Fall Apple Fest. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Volunteers sliced, peeled and mixed apples for pies that will be sold at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Saturday for the Fall Apple Fest. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Georgie Huerta makes dough cutouts to be placed on top of apple pies once they are assembled. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader
Volunteers assembled 350 apple pies Saturday for the annual Fall Apple Fest held at Immaculate Conception Church in Polson this coming weekend. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
A team of 20 volunteers assembled 350 apple pies that were placed in freezers at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Polson Saturday. The pies will be sold at this weekend’s Fall Apple Fest in the church basement. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Twenty volunteers worked in stations at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Polson Saturday, assembling hundreds of apple pies for the parish’s annual Apple Festival this weekend. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Two volunteers picked 800 pounds of McIntosh apples from the John Repnar Orchard in Finley Point. The apples were used for apple pies that will be sold at the Fall Apple Fest held this Saturday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Polson. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader)
Smells of apples and spices filled the basement of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Polson Saturday as volunteers worked to assemble hundreds of apple pies.
As many as 350 apple pies were assembled by 20 volunteers over a several-hour span through the day.
The pies, which will be sold at the 11th annual Fall Apple Fest at the church Saturday, Oct. 14, will benefit the Parish Council of Catholic Women.
The festival will run 10-4 p.m. at 1002 4th Ave. East, Polson.
“It’s a service organization. We do funeral luncheons” as well as work with the religious education dinners and make contributions to various community organization, Linda Wlaysewski, chairperson of the festival, explained.
She added that sometimes the PCCW gives money to parishioners in need.
The apple fest is the main fundraiser for PCCW, Wlaysewski, said, and for the last few years it has been the only fundraiser the group has done.
Typically, the group makes between $1,500 and $1,700 off the pies.
“It’s good enough to keep us going through the year,” she said.
Wlaysewski said that two volunteers picked about 800 pounds of McIntosh apples earlier in the week from John Repnar Orchard in Finley Point.
The volunteers, most of which have been helping to make the pies for years,
Wlaysewski explained that in May, PCCW decides if the pies should be assembled for sale in the fall.
On Saturday, vendors will fill the church basement. Visitors will be able to purchase lunch for $6 that will include chili, cornbread, a drink and a homemade dessert, Wlaysewski said.
The apple pies, which were not baked but were assembled and placed in freezers, will be available for purchase as well.
Volunteers made 125 10-inch pies, which will cost $10, and 225 6-inch pies for $5.