The Tehachapi Apple Festival will return to downtown Tehachapi on Saturday, Oct. 11, with an 8 a.m. 5K, live music in Centennial Plaza and a full day of family activities from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., organizers said on the city’s Tehachapod podcast.

Organizers said they narrowed the event footprint to Green Street to create a “small hometown” feel and to drive customers into participating downtown businesses. Lorena, a member of the organizing Samoranko team, said the festival will require vendors to offer an apple-related product or apple-themed booth decorations. “We are asking that all vendors... have something apple related,” Lorena said on the show.

Why it matters: organizers and small-business owners said the festival is intended to bring foot traffic and sales to downtown stores and give local musicians and food vendors a platform. Presenting sponsor BHE Renewables provided key funding that organizers said helped cover costs; WM is donating trash service and portable restrooms for the day.

Planned events and logistics
- 5K: Organizers said the 5K will start at 8:00 a.m. and will use a downtown route. Organizers will record times using bib numbers this year (chip timing is not available); registration is on Eventbrite and costs $30. Walk-up registration will be available at a table on site.
- Entertainment and contests: A grand opening ceremony on Green Street will be followed by a Miss Apple Festival costume/pageant event, dance performances, a pie-eating contest, apple bobbing, a “Step Back in Time” costume contest, an apple drop, vendor and merch giveaways, and live music in Centennial Plaza.
- Vendor requirements and downtown promotions: The festival footprint will be down Green Street; the organizing team asked vendors to include an apple-related food or product. The Apple Patch Passport will involve 24 participating downtown businesses; organizers said roughly 10 to 11 businesses will offer promotional discounts tied to the weekend. A window-decorating contest for downtown businesses will award one business a free month of advertising at the Hitching Post.

Sponsorships, volunteers and partners
Organizers credited BHE Renewables as the presenting sponsor and thanked other donors such as Grimway for snacks and local bakeries for baked goods. Organizers said WM is providing trash collection and portable restrooms for the event. Volunteers from the BK Theater will circulate through the festival in costume.

Registration, prizes and other details
Organizers said all 5K registrants will receive a branded T-shirt and a goodie bag with donated snacks; first-place finishers in the men’s and women’s races will win either an Apple Watch or an Apple gift card. Tickets are sold on Eventbrite for $30; organizers encouraged preregistration but said walk-up registration will be supported at the event.

Background and context
Podcast hosts noted the Apple Festival dates overlap with other community events that weekend — a chamber fall carnival and a city breast-cancer-awareness walk and health fair — creating multiple family-friendly attractions over the Oct. 11 weekend. Linda Carhartt was acknowledged on the program as the original creator of the festival.

Organizers directed people with questions to the Tehachapi Apple Festival pages on Instagram (Tehachapi Apple Fest) and Facebook (Tehachapi Apple Festival) and said signups for contests and the 5K will be posted on social media.

Notes: All event times, prizes and participation rules were described by organizers on the Tehachapod podcast. Where precise details were not provided on the program (for example, final vendor list or exact number of volunteers at the festival), the article states those items as not specified by the producers or organizers on the recording.