Slide Rock State Park's Annual Fall Festival

(Phoenix, AZ - August 15, 2013) - Slide Rock State Park, Friends of Slide Rock and volunteers present the 3rd Annual Slide Rock Fall Festival on September 21, 2013 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This family event will celebrate the coming of the fall season with demonstrations, presentations, activities and fresh apples.

There are 13 different species of apples grown at Slide Rock State Park and visitors are welcome to purchase pre-packaged apples or pick them from the trees for a lesser fee. Come enjoy the antique tractor displays, watch local fly wheelers demonstrate their historic farm equipment, listen to interpretive talks in the historic apple packing shed, all while basking in the incredible beauty of Slide Rock State Park. Kid's activities, a bake sale and other fundraisers benefitting the Friends of Slide Rock State Park will be additional features of the event.

For many years, Slide Rock State Park was a large orchard and today it is still a working commercial apple ranch producing more than 1,200 boxes of apples in 2007 in the park. An original vintage 30-foot-long apple-sorting machine reconstructed by volunteers is still in the historic Pendley apple shed. For the past few years, there have not been any apples because the crops were stymied due to freezing spring temperatures, however rangers are expecting a bountiful apple harvest this year.

Frank L. Pendley arrived in Oak Creek Canyon in 1907 and acquired the land title as part of the Homestead Act in 1910. He put in the irrigation system and planted the apple orchard in 1912. In 1933 he built the rustic cabins seen in the park today. It was sold to the Arizona Parklands Foundation for $3.6 million in 1984 and then became a State Park.

For more information visit AZStateParks.com/parks/SLRO or call the park at (928) 282-3034. The Park Entrance Fee for this event will be $10 per vehicle for up to 4 adults or $3 per person or bicycle (prior to Labor Day the fee is $20 per vehicle). Slide Rock State Park is located just 7 miles north of Sedona on State Route 89A in Oak Creek Canyon. To get to the park from Phoenix go north on I-17 to Hwy 179, west through Sedona to Hwy 89A north, and then seven miles up Oak Creek Canyon. From Flagstaff follow Hwy 89A south for 20 miles.

For information about all 27 Arizona State Parks, the Trails and Off-Highway Vehicle Programs and State Historic Preservation Office call (602) 542-4174 (outside of the Phoenix metro area call toll-free (800) 285-3703), visit the website and online camping reservations at AZStateParks.com, Twitter/Facebook AZStateParks.