I chose the cultural experience of going to a small town festival called "Apple Days." This is an all day event where people from around town go to the Sander's house on Turkey Run Road in Saint Clair, Missouri. The town of Saint Clair is around 2,000 people that have all lived there their whole lives. There is one gas station, one grocery store, one coffee shop, and one school. My whole family lives within a mile of each other in this town, and we have all grown up there on properties that are passed down from generations. Whatever event happens here, everyone knows about it. Apple Days is a tradition that everyone comes out to the Sander's every year for. This is an experience from dawn to dusk that takes days to prepare and set up for. Apple Days is a day of appreciation for all the old, traditional ways of American farmers and workers. Everyone dresses up to be set in an American time period as old as the 1800s. There are different areas of the Sander's property for different traditional ways of life. There is a pie baking station, with an old oven and wood or stainless steel baking tools on a wooden counter. You have to grind up your own flour and go collect your own eggs from the chicken coop. There is a station for old-fashioned stew, where a big pot of freshly grown and cut vegetables are being cooked over a big fire. There are areas with old wooden toys for the kids to play on, and you're transported around the farm on a tractor from the 1930s. But most important of all, there are the apples. A homestead American apple grinder made out of wood and iron is placed in the middle of the farm and is surrounded by a giant bucket of apples from the orchard. The most popular experience is the apple cider, fermented into fresh juice and able to drink straight from the apple grinder. There's not only many variety of apples that are celebrated during this event, but many forms of American culture in past generations as well. All the people in Saint Clair who join the Sanders on their farm for Apple Days are being reminded that the old ways are the good ways. They prefer to grow, grind, and cook their apples into jam instead of going to the store and buying it. Although it takes time and effort, the traditional ways are special and should be passed down to generations so they are never forgotten. Apple Days is a rememberable cultural experience that brings American homestead back to life. read more