A seven-foot-long apple pie is part of the annual Nappanee Apple Festival. Nappanee also offers a nature preserve with trails and observation shelters, exhibits about local history, and recreational activities ranging from golf to swimming. The festival provides a clear date to plan around; nature and culture offer other ways to experience the town. For your trip planning, it helps to first decide which theme you want to shape your visit.

The Apple Festival as a date to plan around

The Nappanee Apple Festival takes place annually on the third weekend of September in Nappanee, Indiana. The festival includes the annual baking of a seven-foot-long apple pie. Its length makes the pie a distinctive culinary detail of the festival. As an annual event, the festival also gives your trip a clear time frame.

Nature at Borkholder Nature Center & Wetlands

Borkholder Nature Center & Wetlands is a seven-acre nature preserve established in the early 1990s. It is suitable for observing wildlife, birds, and butterflies. The trails lead visitors to the wetland area near the intersection of Woodview Drive and Oakland Avenue. Several observation shelters along the trails provide viewing areas. The seven acres give you a sense of the site's scale; the wetland as a trail destination and the observation shelters with their viewing areas are also important points of reference for wildlife watching.

Local history, art, and theater

The Evelyn Lehman Culp Heritage Collection at the Nappanee Center tells the story of Nappanee through exhibits and rotating displays. The Doug Grant Family Gallery houses more than 60 paintings by Emma Schrock. The Collection and the Gallery offer different focuses: one tells the story of the town through rotating displays, while the other focuses on paintings by Emma Schrock. The Nappanee Theatre adds a historic date to the local cultural history: it opened in Nappanee in 1926.

Tours and horse-drawn carriage rides at The Barns at Nappanee

At The Barns at Nappanee, you can choose between two different experiences: a tour about Amish life and horse-drawn carriage rides around the ponds and through the woods. The tour focuses on a cultural topic, while the carriage rides take in the ponds and woods as their setting.

Recreational activities and seasonal planning

McCormick Creek Golf Course is a public, par-72 golf course in Nappanee. The Nappanee Swimming Pool at 754 Stauffer Park Drive offers a large pool area for people of all ages and operates seasonally. Golf and swimming thus cater to different recreational interests; for the pool, its seasonal operation is a key factor in planning your timing.

If the festival or swimming pool will shape your stay, compare their schedules: the Apple Festival takes place annually on the third weekend of September, while the swimming pool operates seasonally.

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