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It all came to be when Jim Erickson, of Erickson's Orchard & Country Store was delivering apples to North Dakota but ended up with a flat tire on his truck while driving through Duluth. "I always had the spare in the back of my truck but for some reason I had taken it out." Erickson recalled. "It's no trouble to change a tire when you actually have a tire!"
Erickson called his brother, Richard back at the farm in Bayfield, Richard loaded up a new tire & drove to rescue Jim.
While waiting for the spare, people began asking Jim where he was from & where he got the apple, "when I told them Bayfield, no one knew where it was! One guy thought it was in Michigan. I was so shocked that these people within 85 miles had no idea where Bayfield was or about the apples that we grow here." He thought, "Something should be done!"
While waiting for his brother to arrive, Jim sold 27 bushels of apples from the back of his truck. A perfect opportunity came shortly thereafter when he was at a meeting with several local luminaries, among those in attendance were Jim, Julian Nelson & George Mitchell. They were looking for ways to encourage visitors to visit Bayfield during the spectacular autumn months. Jim told the story about the apples and the flat tire & suggested an Apple Festival "To bring the people to the apples," instead of the other way around!
​And so it began..................