A Closer Look at Clendenen’s Cider Works Ahead of the 38th Annual Fortuna Apple Harvest Festival

The historic Clendenen’s Cider Works orchard in Fortuna has been serving Humboldt County with fresh apples and cider since 1909. They’re also one of the key elements to the 38th Annual Apple Harvest.

“The apple harvest festival was my grandmother, Carole Clendenen’s idea,”  Drew Clendenen, the manager and 4th Generation farmer at Clendenen’s Orchard said.

Clendenen’s Cider Works is offering a full tour of the orchard, where you can see 11 acres of 100 year-old apple trees, a cider press that’s been around since 1916, and more.

“We’ll have our business open, selling apple cider and local produce and our baked goods, we’ll have an apple tasting table where folks can sample the different varieties of apples we’re picking right now,” Clendenen said. “Then there’ll be a narrated wagon tour around our orchard that’s narrated by interactive volunteers.”

Drew explains that hosting these tours also highlight the hard work that is done in agricultural labor. 

“Many crops in California, they’re all picked by hand and by, you know, AG labor and so there’s not a lot of machines that do this kind of work,” Clendenen said. “The AG labor and workers are really important […] California produces 70% of the fruit, vegetables and nuts that are sold in the U.S. so it’s a super important part of it”