BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — During this time of year, there’s one thing on the minds of many metro Detroiters: which cider mill to hit up for the best fall fix.
“We ate like four already,” Assad said, laughing with his siblings while eating donuts.
“I feel like fall is the perfect season and this is the perfect activity,” Lauren said as she fed her dog a donut. “My friends from Bloomfield Hills are paying me money so I can bring them back donuts.”
For some like Ron Zimmerman, who always sits on the same bench by the water at Franklin Cider Mill, it’s a family tradition.
“I’ve been coming here for about 65 years or 70 years,” Zimmerman said.
He says this time, his granddaughter Addison requested the visit.
“She says ‘I want to go to the cider mill and get donuts.' And what do you want to get?’” he asked her.
“I want to see the ducks,” she replied.
Metro Detroit cider mills like Franklin and Three Cedars Farm in Northville are excited for the start of a new season.
“We’re in the middle of a city and a town, and that’s very unique for cider mills. And I think we’ve been around for so long that every person just wants to come. They drive by and if they have never been here before, they stop by and they see what the magic is here,” said Melanee Peltz Radner, co-owner of Franklin Cider Mill.
She remembers getting donuts with her grandfather as a child when he owned and operated the place.
“For me, this is all I know,” Radner said. “I have some of the same employees that worked for my father, my grandfather.”
About 40 minutes west in Salem Township, Gary Whittaker and his wife have owned and operated Three Cedars Farm for 23 years.
“It’s a tradition. And now we’re seeing families where couples fall and love and marry and then they start having kids and they bring their kids, so it’s kind of like a tradition. So we appreciate the people who support our farm here,” Whittaker said.
In addition to apples, cider and donuts, the farm features lots of play areas for children including five acres of picking, a corn maze and a story book-themed barn yard playland with live animals. They recently added a merry-go-round and train that goes around the farm.
“It gradually as it gets into October, the farm does get a lot busier. Everybody’s after that cider and donuts and doing the fall tradition,” Whittaker said.
Michigan is known for producing a wide variety of apples, but this is expected to be another above average year for the crop with an abundant harvest.
“It keeps the cost down and of course, it’s about ripening of the apples to make sure you’re picking them at the right time and have blended apples to make sure your cider is perfect,” Whittaker said.
