The Illinois Great Apple Crunch is a day-long celebration of fresh, local apples from the Midwest! Schools across the state of Illinois can participate by serving local apples on the lunch tray and ‘crunch’-ing into them together as a school. We provide educational supplements for use in the cafeteria and the classroom that will teach your students all about Illinois apples.
The Great Apple Crunch is a fun way for schools to celebrate local agriculture and eat delicious, fresh apples. The Crunch is a regional event that takes place across the Great Lakes region in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. 2017 was our third year celebrating local apples in October, and we are growing! In 2015 – year one – 35,000 Illinois students participated in the Crunch. In 2016, a total of 339,103 Illinois students participated in the Crunch. In 2017, 1,543,781 students in the Great Lakes Region crunched into apples including 467,096 students in Illinois at 919 sites! We are thrilled and excited that so many Illinois schools have registered to participate. The Crunch is our second fastest growing Farm to School activity, bypassed only by our school garden programs! You can view the Illinois Apple Crunch reports here.
Follow the IL Farm to School Network on social media for updates!