PULLMAN, WA — The 80-foot Cosmic Crisp® hot air balloon will return to Washington State University’s Pullman campus Friday, Sept. 19, for the first-ever Apple Cup Harvest Market, a free event offering tastes of a wide range of Cougar-made foods and products.
The Apple Cup Harvest Market is 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Mooberry Track and Field. Visitors will be able to meet students and scientists and sample WSU-bred or grown produce, dairy products, and other goods, as well as encounter members of the WSU men’s and women’s basketball teams and the WSU Athletics Performance Nutrition program.
“We’re looking forward to giving Apple Cup fans a taste of the vast agricultural micro-industry that exists within WSU, as well as an in-person visit with our student-athletes and the eye-catching Cosmic Crisp® balloon,” said organizer Lindsay Brown, Associate Athletics Director for WSU’s Performance Nutrition program.
Programs taking part include the WSU Cheese Club, School of Food Science, WSU Eggert Organic Farm, Cougar Quality Meats, the Honey Bees + Pollinators Program, WSU Horticulture Center, Department of Viticulture and Enology, WSU Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles student clubs, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, and the USDA-ARS Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research Unit.
“It’s really exciting to bring together Apple Cup, WSU, and our products,” said Kate Evans, horticulture professor and pome fruit breeder. Based at Wenatchee, where she develops new apple varieties, Evans will help introduce visitors to Cosmic Crisp® at the Harvest Market. She hopes they come away with a fresh awareness of the value of WSU science to the region’s palates and economy.
“Our breeding program creates varieties that sustain Washington agriculture,” Evans said. “There’s no better feeling than seeing people eat our products.”
At the market, Performance Nutrition students will offer Cosmic Crisp® apples and apple-themed mocktails, snacks, and recipe cards. Mascot Butch T. Coug will also make an appearance.
A team of pilots readies the Cosmic Crisp® hot air balloon for a morning launch during the 2024 visit to the Pullman campus. Returning for the WSU-UW football game, the custom-made balloon will be featured at the Apple Cup Farmer’s Market on Friday, Sept. 19 (photo by Dean Hare/WSU Photo Services).
Guests will be able to view the full-size Cosmic Crisp® hot air balloon, as well as its smaller remote-controlled sibling, at the field on Friday. On the following morning, weather permitting, pilot Steve Wilkinson will make a 6:30 a.m. game day flight.
“We’ll do a beautiful show,” said Wilkinson, who custom-built the balloon as part of the launch and promotion of Cosmic Crisp®.
Making its third annual visit to the WSU campus, and its first to a college rivalry football game, the balloon is a popular draw for adults and children.
“Everywhere we go, it’s the balloon everybody comes to,” Wilkinson said. “They tell us that Cosmic Crisp® is the best apple they’ve ever had.”
