Exclusive

Dwight and Jack (son and father) Mickey of Shatzer Orchards, best gift box and basket

Best of Show to Peters Orchards, bushel of Honeycrisp

Bushel display at the 2005 PA Farm Show, Harrisburg, PA

Among a total of 302 individual entries of fruits in the 2005 Pennsylvania Farm Show, the bushel of Honeycrisp apples entered by The Peters Orchards of 10540 Carlisle Pike, Gardners, won first place in the Tray Pack Bushel class and was selected "Best of Show." Peters, with 77 entries, was one of four exhibitors of fruit at the farm show this year. His competitors included Strite's Orchards located east of Harrisburg and from Franklin County, the Mickey family of Shatzer Orchards with 150 entries, and their neighbor, Terry Gillan with eight entries.

The Show, held January 8-15, 2005 is the largest indoor farm show in the U.S. This Show -- the 89th -- was held in Harrisburg in the newly renovated Farm Show complex.

The Honeycrisp apple is a new variety developed at the University of Minnesota. Mostly orange-red with a yellow background, this crisp, juicy, sweet apple has a rich flavor that has made it #1 in taste panels. Its parentage is unknown but this new cultivar is becoming the most widely planted new apple in the US with over one million trees in the ground.

The "Best Bushel" was auctioned by the Pennsylvania Apple Marketing Board during the Pennsylvania Auctioneer's Bid Calling Contest during the Farm Show. The State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania recognizes the producer of the best bushel with an award to be presented at the association's annual meeting.

In the farm market education display, Strites Orchard won first prize with an exhibit on hail. Twice the victim of late summer hail storms, the exhibit explained "how a season's work can change with a ten minute hail storm and how their crop suffered 83 percent damage, but crop insurance saved our season."

Win Cowgill, Professor and area fruit agent with Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension, judged the fruit at the 2005 show. The committee to organize and set up the show was headed by Dr. Tara Baugher, PSU Extension Fruit Agent in Adams County, Matt Harsh, PSU, and retired PSU County Agent Tom Piper.

Best of class by Peters Orchards for a tray of 20 Firmgold apples, held by judge Win Cowgill