Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival staging its first Casino and Cash Party
$6,000 Welcome Bonus
WINCHESTER — Feeling lucky? If so, you won’t want to miss the Apple Blossom Casino and Cash Party, the first Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival event of 2023.
The Apple Blossom Casino and Cash Party scheduled for Jan. 21 is a new festival event exclusively for people age 21 and over who would like a shot at claiming $6,800 worth of cash prizes.
“I want it to be successful so they’ll let me do it again next year,” joked Sabra Veach, who is co-chairing the inaugural event for the nonprofit Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival with Mike Stanfield.
Only 300 tickets to the Casino and Cash Party will be sold, and Veach said on Wednesday that just a few remain available.
Tickets cost $75 each and include admission, an open bar, dinner from Claudio’s Pizzeria of Winchester, $500 in casino chips for a variety of table games, a chance to win a $5,000 grand prize and opportunities to participate in a silent auction of donated items, raffles and a 50/50 drawing. Credit cards can be used to purchase auction items, but cash must be used for the raffles, 50/50 drawing and additional casino chips.
“Everything is going to help raise money for the festival,” Veach said, such as travel stipends for marching bands and special units to take part in the festival’s parades as well as funds for the 100th festival in 2027, according to a festival news release.
The evening will be emceed by Middletown Mayor Charles Harbaugh IV, Veach said, and the table games to be offered are blackjack, poker, roulette and craps.
“We have an outside company coming in to do the casino games,” Veach said.
The Apple Blossom Casino and Cash Party will also include a live auction for what Veach called a “golden ticket” that grants the top bidder and one guest free admission to any and all 96th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival events.
“How awesome is that?” Veach asked. “It’s definitely worth over a thousand dollars.”
Additionally, one of the raffle items will be a dance experience that Veach said grants access to four people to attend all the festival dances held on the evenings of May 4, 5 and 6, such as the Queen’s Ball. This year’s lineup of dances has not yet been revealed.
The Casino and Cash Party begins at 5 p.m. and will be held at the Fraternal Order of the Elks Lodge 867, 466 Front Royal Pike near Winchester. Tickets may be purchased in advance during business hours at the festival office at 135 N. Cameron St. in Winchester. If any of the 300 tickets remain when the party begins, Veach said they will be sold at the door.
To learn more about the Apple Blossom Casino and Cash Party, visit thebloom.com and scroll down to see details.
The 96th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival — don’t call it “annual” because no festivals were held from 1942 to 1945 due to World War II or in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic — will be held April 28 through May 7 in and around Winchester. The theme for this year’s festival is “Live, Love, Bloom.”
Miss Apple Blossom Festival 2023 will be determined Jan. 28 at a pageant competition scheduled for 7 p.m. at Daniel Morgan Middle School, 48 S. Purcell Ave. in Winchester. Tickets for the pageant are $15 for adults, $10 for children 10 and younger, and can be purchased online at thebloom.com/tickets.
