Shawnee County Kansas Cider Days Festival
Every September, Topeka pours itself a tall glass of autumn. The occasion is Cider Days, a two-day gathering of craft stalls, fresh cider and old-time demonstrations held at the Stormont Vail Events Center, the complex Topekans still call the Kansas Expocentre. This page carries the sheet title Shawnee County Kansas Cider Days Festival, although no layer in the research record prints that county-first wording. The organiser, the venue and the city’s tourism pages all use the shorter name Cider Days, and the organiser’s own site also bills a Cider Days Fall Market. Under either label the weekend mixes a very large autumn market with pioneer heritage, animals and live entertainment, spread between the Exhibition Hall indoors and the grounds outside it.
About
Cider Days belongs to Topeka, the seat of Shawnee County and the capital of Kansas, and its home is the city’s big events campus on the south side of town. The organiser’s own site describes the production as a local family-owned event, and a news layer from two thousand twenty-one names the event’s owner directly, while the organiser’s terms layer names the producer as Zach Events LLC; those three descriptions sit side by side in the record and are not merged here. The scale is considerable. A university student newspaper layer counted about ten thousand visitors across the two thousand nineteen weekend, when exhibits numbered over two hundred fifty, and the two thousand twenty-six edition again promised more than two hundred fifty vendors. Shoppers move between rows of handmade goods inside the hall and a looser spread of attractions outdoors, so the weekend feels part craft fair, part county heritage day and part family outing. The vendor count matters to that feel: with more than two hundred fifty exhibits in the strongest recent years, no two visitors walk quite the same route. The organiser’s site also uses the Cider Days Fall Market billing for the same production, a hint that the shopping side now leads its public identity, yet the name still promises cider first.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Published name | Cider Days, also billed as Cider Days Fall Market |
| Host city | Topeka, seat of Shawnee County and capital of Kansas |
| Venue | Stormont Vail Events Center, the Kansas Expocentre |
| Setting | Exhibition Hall indoors, with further attractions outdoors |
| Usual timing | A Saturday and Sunday in late September |
| Recent billing | Forty-fifth Annual Cider Days in two thousand twenty-six |
| Crowd | About ten thousand visitors across the two thousand nineteen weekend |
| Admission in two thousand twenty-six | Eight dollars in advance, ten dollars at the door, children thirteen and under free |
| Earliest home | A small arts and crafts fair at Apple Valley Farm at Lake Perry |
History
The past of Cider Days arrives in two accounts that this article keeps separate, exactly as the layers print them. A venue layer bills the event as running since nineteen eighty-one. The organiser’s own history tells a more gradual story: a small arts and crafts fair began in the early nineteen eighties at Apple Valley Farm at Lake Perry, later moved to Lake Shawnee, and then came to the Kansas Expocentre in nineteen eighty-seven. Recent editions carry the billing forty-fifth annual, yet that numbering is left as a billing only, and no founding year is worked out from it. What the dated record does show is a durable September fixture that survived a change of home and grew from a farm fair into a hall-filling market. The two thousand nineteen edition drew its ten thousand visitors with more than two hundred fifty exhibits. The pandemic then forced a cancellation in two thousand twenty, and the newspaper layer covering the return on Saturday the twenty-fifth and Sunday the twenty-sixth of September two thousand twenty-one recorded more than one hundred seventy-five vendors, with doors open from ten in the morning until six in the evening on the Saturday and from eleven until four on the Sunday. By two thousand twenty-six the weekend, held on Saturday the nineteenth and Sunday the twentieth of September and billed the forty-fifth Annual Cider Days, was back above two hundred fifty vendors. Read together, the dated editions sketch a rhythm rather than steady growth: a settled late September place, a vendor body that swells and dips with the year, and a public that came back after the pandemic interruption. The layers name no early programme in detail, so the first decades are known by outline rather than contents.
What to Expect
A first visit usually begins among the craft rows, where makers sell the handmade stock that has defined the event since its farm days: seasonal décor, woodwork, textiles, jewellery, pantry goods and gifts. Fresh apple cider anchors the food side of the weekend, and the cider-pressing heritage behind the name is kept visible through pioneer and living-history demonstrations that show how farm work was done by hand. Families tend to drift outdoors, where a petting zoo and other animal attractions give children a break from the shopping aisles. Food stalls and live entertainment run through both days, so the hall’s steady browsing rhythm is broken up by performances and demonstrations rather than left as pure retail. Because part of the event sits under a roof and part under the sky, weather changes the texture of a visit without cancelling its core. City tourism material and the organiser’s own pages describe the same blend, and the student newspaper’s account of the two thousand nineteen weekend confirms the mix was in place well before the recent editions. The appeal sits in browsing, tasting and watching skills demonstrated at close range. The result is a market with a storyline: the crafts are the draw, but the cider, the old tools and the animals explain why this particular market has lasted four decades.
Planning Your Visit
Tickets for the two thousand twenty-six edition were printed by the venue layer at eight dollars when bought in advance from local grocery stores or the venue box office, and ten dollars at the door, with children aged thirteen and under admitted free. Those figures belong to that year only. A newspaper layer printed general admission at six dollars for two thousand twenty-one, and earlier or later prices are not stated in the record, so checking the current year’s terms before travelling is the sensible habit. Opening hours have also varied by day: the two thousand twenty-one Saturday ran two hours longer than its Sunday. Arriving near opening time gives the quietest pass through the Exhibition Hall before the aisles fill, and it leaves the outdoor attractions for the warmer middle of the day. Visitors who care most about the living-history demonstrations should ask at the door where those are staged, since the indoor and outdoor halves of the site reward different pacing. Anyone bringing children may want to alternate a hall row with an animal stop, which keeps small legs willing. The advance ticket route is worth using where it applies, since the two thousand twenty-six terms rewarded early buyers by two dollars a head. Groups splitting up should agree a meeting point near the hall doors, because the crowd is thick by midday and the outdoor attractions pull people in opposite directions.
For a useful comparison, see the Shawnee County Kansas Trees Festival for another county festival.
A Sample Itinerary
Begin a Saturday at the doors as they open and walk one full circuit of the craft aisles before buying anything, noting the stalls worth a second look. Pause mid-morning for a cup of fresh cider and watch a pressing or pioneer demonstration while the hall is still navigable. Take lunch from the food stalls, then carry it outdoors and let younger visitors spend their energy at the petting zoo. The early afternoon suits a slower second pass through the market for gifts and pantry goods, followed by a set of live entertainment. On the Sunday, return later in the morning, when the shorter day begins, and use it for the exhibits missed the first time and for final purchases from vendors packing up at the weekend’s end.
A Useful Comparison
Topeka’s autumn calendar holds another apple-flavoured name, the Apple Festival at Ward-Meade Park, and the two are easily confused from a distance. The record is clear that they are separate events: the Ward-Meade gathering is its own fall occasion at a historic park, while Cider Days is the large market weekend at the events centre, built around vendor rows, cider heritage and demonstrations. A much older echo sits further away in Leavenworth, where a state calendar from nineteen eighty-nine listed a Sippin’ Cider Days; that was a different town’s event and shares nothing with the Topeka weekend beyond cider and a similar name. Within its own history, Cider Days also invites comparison across its three homes: the farm fair at Lake Perry was small and rural, the Lake Shawnee years were a stepping stone, and the Expocentre version is the big indoor-outdoor production described here.
A Packing Checklist
- A reusable bag or two, because craft purchases accumulate quickly across two hundred stalls
- Comfortable shoes suited to long hall aisles and a walk outdoors
- A layer of clothing for cooler outdoor demonstrations after time inside the warm hall
- Cash or a card kept handy for food stalls and small makers
- A note of the current year’s ticket terms, checked before setting out
- Patience for a slow first circuit before deciding what to buy
- A plan for which day suits the shorter Sunday hours
- Room in the car for fragile handmade pieces on the drive home
- A free hand for a cup of fresh cider while browsing
- A reminder that children thirteen and under entered free in two thousand twenty-six
Beyond the Event
The weekend’s own backstory points to two day trips. Lake Perry, where Apple Valley Farm hosted the fair’s beginnings, remains the rural counterpoint to the Expocentre’s halls, and Lake Shawnee, the event’s second home, is now a place Topekans visit for its own sake. Inside the city, the capital’s museums, the state capitol building and the historic wards around the venue fill the hours before the doors open or after they close. Visitors who time a trip for the last full weekend of September also catch Topeka in its early autumn colours, when the drive between the lakes and the events centre is at its best. The venue layer prints the events centre’s street address and the organiser’s pages print their own contact routes for anyone arranging a longer stay. A visitor with only the weekend to spare can still treat the fair as the anchor of a small capital city break, with the lakes supplying its quieter half.
Why It Matters
Longevity is the heart of the story. A small farm craft fair from the early nineteen eighties became, by its forty-fifth annual billing, one of the largest autumn markets in the region, and it did so while staying in local family hands. For makers, the weekend offers two days in front of thousands of visitors; for families, it marks the turn of the season as reliably as the first cold night. Keeping cider pressing and pioneer skills on display also preserves a piece of farm heritage that might otherwise survive only in museums. The event’s return after a lost pandemic year, and its growth back beyond two hundred fifty vendors by two thousand twenty-six, suggests a fixture the city genuinely missed. There is a quieter significance in the record itself: a venue that bills a starting year, an organiser that tells a slower story of farms and lakes, and an event that grew by moving house twice while staying recognisably itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the published name leave out the county and the word festival?
Every layer consulted prints a shorter name. The organiser’s own site, the venue layer and the city tourism layer all say Cider Days, and the organiser also bills a Cider Days Fall Market. The longer county-first title on this page is a filing form, presented honestly as such, while the event itself answers to the short name its public has used for decades.
What did entry cost in two thousand twenty-six, and how did two thousand twenty-one compare?
The venue layer printed eight dollars for advance tickets bought at local grocery stores or the venue box office in two thousand twenty-six, ten dollars at the door, and free entry for children thirteen and under. Five years earlier a newspaper layer printed general admission at six dollars. Neither figure is stretched across other years here, because the record states prices only for those two editions.
Has the gathering always happened at the Expocentre?
No. The organiser’s own history begins with a small arts and crafts fair at Apple Valley Farm at Lake Perry in the early nineteen eighties, followed by a move to Lake Shawnee, and only then the arrival at the Kansas Expocentre in nineteen eighty-seven. The venue layer separately bills the event as running since nineteen eighty-one; both accounts are reported as printed rather than reconciled.
Is the Apple Festival at Ward-Meade Park part of the same occasion?
It is not. City tourism and guide layers treat the Ward-Meade Apple Festival as a separate Topeka fall event with its own setting and identity. Cider Days is the market weekend at the Stormont Vail Events Center, centred on craft vendors, cider and living-history demonstrations, and the two should be planned as distinct outings.
What to Expect From the Next Shawnee County Kansas Cider Days Festival
How often is Shawnee County Kansas Cider Days Festival held?
The dated editions in the record fall in nineteen eighty-one’s long shadow: two thousand nineteen, two thousand twenty-one after a pandemic gap, and two thousand twenty-six, each on a single September weekend of two days. That yearly rhythm, with one forced interruption, is what the layers support.
When is the next Shawnee County Kansas Cider Days Festival?
The latest dated edition in the layers read here ran on Saturday the nineteenth and Sunday the twentieth of September two thousand twenty-six, billed as the forty-fifth Annual Cider Days. Beyond that weekend, the organiser and venue layers consulted print no further date, so a future visit should be planned against the organiser’s current announcements rather than assumed.
Will the dates change?
The day of the month has drifted within late September across the documented years, moving between the nineteenth and the twenty-ninth, while the season and the Saturday-Sunday shape have held steady. A shift of a week either way would surprise nobody who follows the record, but nothing in the layers promises a fixed weekend.
Closing Thoughts
Cider Days rewards a simple approach: arrive early, walk the aisles twice, drink the cider slowly and leave time for the demonstrations that explain the name. Whether it is filed under the long county title or the short name Topeka actually uses, the weekend stands as the city’s defining autumn market, and its four decades of reinvention suggest it will be pouring again next September.
