What started as a small tour of orchards around the region has grown into a celebration of the apple, as CiderDays celebrates 30 years of fermentation.

From North Adams to Northampton to Phillipston, as well as numerous Franklin County stops in between, apple lovers, cider nuts and the public are invited to check out western Massachusetts’ orchards and cideries for a weekend of tasting, eating and education on all things apples.

In all, it’s three days of experiencing the fruits of Franklin County’s labor, with events for everyone from Nov. 1-3, as CiderDays celebrates 30 years and people like West County Cider owner Field Maloney welcome visitors to experience “apples and orchards and ciders sweet and hard.”

“We’re going in force with all of the classics,” said Maloney, who is also the co-organizer of CiderDays. “There’s so many different places doing great things across the county and beyond.”

The celebration of three decades of CiderDays comes at a great time, too, as apple orchards around the region saw a great harvest, a welcome sight after a difficult couple of years.

“Because of the Indian summer, the fruit has really had a long time to ripen. It’s great, ripe, high-sugar apples,” Maloney said, adding he believes it’s been the best year for apples since 2015. “Everyone involved is real happy with the way things are going on the ground and all the local orchards and cidermakers, and everyone connected to apples, is happy with how great a harvest it’s been.”

CiderDays traces its roots back to 1994, when the event was created as a tour to highlight orchards featured in Paul Correnty’s book, “The Art of Cidermaking.” The inaugural event featured West County Cider, Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Greenwood Farm and Pine Hill Orchards and even had a bring-your-own tasting event at the Maloney’s sampling room in Colrain.

From there, though, CiderDays began to grow in size and was soon under the guidance of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce in 2000, which lasted until 2022. In its 28th year, the chamber stepped back and organizing the event was soon up to the orchard owners, cidermakers and cider afficionados. Maloney emphasized the event is nothing without the teamwork of everyone involved, whether its local business owners, orchardists or his fellow co-organizers.

“Apple culture in Franklin County runs long and deep … the cradle of the hard cider movement was Franklin County and I think we’re all proud of that,” Maloney said. “It all goes by so fast that it’s easy to forget that [30 years] is quite a milestone.”

For Brady Shearer of Pine Hill Orchards, whose family, including father-in-law Dave Shearer, has been involved with CiderDays since the beginning, she said the event is a chance to show off the agriculture industry, while also bringing in regulars in the region and tourists from around the nation.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to bring people to our farm and show what we do. As for the hard cider community, it’s become such a huge thing,” Shearer said. “It got pretty huge and there were some issues with Covid … but I think it’s making a comeback.”

CiderDays kicks off Friday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m. with a pomological exhibition in Williamsburg and continues with events around the region through 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, with a cidermaker peer review tasting in New Salem.

In total, there are 25 events listed for the public to take part in — some may require tickets in advance — and 18 venues/stores where people can purchase or taste ciders.

“I don’t think you can go wrong. I don’t think you need to try and see everything. Wherever you go, it’s a good time to get out at the end of fall,” Maloney said. “That’s part of the idea of CiderDays, it’s a bit of an adventure.”

For a full list of events and venues, as well as links to register for ticketed events, visit ciderdays.org.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.