Held the second Sunday in October, the Riverside Christian School community hosted its 31st annual “Riverside Apple Festival” on Sunday, October 12 this year, in Washougal, Washington, despite the rainy weather.

As many as 700-800 people walk the school campus during the Apple Festival, but for many the experience begins long before the event opens to the public. “The Sunday before the Apple Festival the students and their families, our school staff, and church members all work together making dumplings from scratch. We use a recipe chosen several years ago and it’s so fun. It’s actually a huge process!” says Riverside Christian School principal Bethany Edmundson. “It’s a great community building time where people really get to know each other, have great conversations, and even the kids get to help. It’s fun making something yummy together. The dumplings are frozen and they’re good for like a year after, and we sell them to raise money for financial aid and other projects like campus improvements and classroom supplies. This year we’re replacing the flooring in the church fellowship hall.”

When you first arrive at the Apple Festival, you may park in a community lot offsite and take a shuttle with Pastor Merrill Caviness. “One of the highlights is talking to Pastor Merrill on the way over,” said Principal Edmundson. “He’s so good at sharing the love of God with everybody, and about the school and our mission, and he always makes people feel really good.” Upon arrival, festival-goers are greeted with beautiful fall colors in the surrounding scenery, a variety of booths and activities including a bounce house, horse rides, and a pie eating contest, decorated pumpkins and hay bails, kids games, delicious food, and more.

“This is really the epitome of ‘Together as One,’ with church members and school families all coming together to do something that’s good for the community and our school,” shared Principal Edmundson. “And it’s good for our church, too.” When it comes to building community relationships I had a lot of really good conversations with people about our church. Families who have been part of our school for a few years now and are just starting to ask more questions. Whether it was due to the years of building that relationship together or being in a different environment making dumplings together, they were asking questions. And that was really cool to me because we had the chance to share what we’re all about. Those conversations were really neat, and it was beautiful to see the dedication and care our church members have for our school.”

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