Afton Apple Orchard — Local services in Denmark Township

I had a very disturbing experience at this apple orchard. I don’t normally write negative reviews. In the past we’ve always gone to Emma Krumbee’s apple orchard, but this particular day I was at my sons soccer game and Afton apple orchard was much closer to go to.

The day was going very well, we were having a great time, when unexpectedly one of their employees pulled over in a small tractor while we were picking apples and started yelling at us and berating us. I will preface the story by saying that I am a physician and the four kids I had taken there are lovely well behaved children. We were picking apples, and this particular stretch of apple trees did not have any apples within reach, only apples at the very top of the trees. My 10 year old child picked up an apple that had fallen on the ground that was rotten and had thrown it up in order to knock out one the good apples at the top of the tree. We were nowhere around anyone else. There was no possibility that he could have hit anybody else. The employee pulled up, and he could’ve just told us that they didn’t want us to do that. Literally one apple was thrown.

Instead, he immediately started yelling at us and saying that we were being so “disrespectful.” I thought he was upset because he thought that we were taking a perfectly good apple and using a perfectly good apple to knock an apple from the top of the tree. So I calmly explain that my son had picked up one of the many rotting apples on the ground and had use that. I did not want him to think we were wasting apples. He again started yelling at us, he said that it was “obvious” that we shouldn’t be picking apples from the top of the tree. He said that if they wanted us to get the apples that were higher up they would’ve provided ladders for us. I told him that to me, it was not obvious, and that if that was their rule then we would not do it again. I Told him we were happy to follow any rules they have. But again he yelled at us. Again he said it was “disrespectful“ and that it was obvious, and that we should be looking further down into the orchard where they were actually trees with apples lower down.

The encounter was really disturbing. It’s not like we were throwing a bunch of apples around. One child had picked up one rotten apple and used it to try to knock down one good apple with no one else anywhere near us. What was also disturbing about this is we took a hayride into the picking area of the apple orchard during which there would’ve been plenty of opportunity for anyone to give us any sort of rules we were supposed to follow. The hayride person was very nice and joked around, but never once told us anything about which apples we were supposed to and not supposed to pick.

My kids & I have never seen a grown man yell at us that before. It was a good life lesson for them. I told them the importance of not escalating the situation, the importance of being respectful, but the importance of not letting someone berate you inappropriately. The man finally took off in a huff, After for the third time I told him we’re happy to follow that rules but that it had not been obvious to us. I tried to call a manager later that afternoon but there was no answer. Needless to say, we will not be going back to this orchard again.

I will say that most of the employees were lovely. There was a lovely older woman with short gray hair that was manning the very crowded lines for food and to buy your apples. She had quite the job on her hands because it was very crowded that day with very long lines, but she was super nice and super organized and really great about hustling the crowds...

Save your admission fee and go elsewhere. The staff is RUDE. Arrived for nephew's birthday, and bumped into my niece and nephew who arrived before me. They were trying to buy donuts and caramel apples in line in front of us while we waited for admission. The extremely rude older woman behind the counter with red permed fluffy hair asked my niece and nephew (12 year olds) if they wanted admission. They held up their two caramel apples and pack of donuts and said they would just like to buy their snacks. Without even trying to hide her anger, this woman behind the counter had the audacity to let out an annoyed sigh, roll her eyes dramatically and ring up their three item purchase. No need for attitude - if you can't handle the volume of customers go get a new job. Then, we tried heading outside. Another older woman with gray shoulder length hair stopped us from going outside and asked what we were doing. We said we had just arrived and would like to go outside. Her response was, "go then." A while later we wanted to go inside to purchase my toddler son some cheese curds. Crossing the track where the hay ride goes, I look to my right and see a tractor coming our way, but he was still at least 60 feet away and moving very slow. I scurry across to be respectful, to which the tractor driver uses the BACK SIDE of his hand to make a shooing motion as I made my last two steps off his path. Once again I was nowhere near impacting anyone's safety, obviously if I thought he was too close I would have waited. We get to the door being run by the shoulder length gray haired lady. She again asks what we are doing. I tell her I would just like to purchase cheese curds for my son. She points to a line of people holding huge bags of apples that spanned at least two blocks, and says, "then you're going to cut off all of these people who have been standing in line to buy their apples and that's not fair." There was a COMPLETELY separate line for apple purchases, as well as the food counter, but for whatever reason this lady wanted to make everything difficult for literally everyone. She was almost causing the chaos to be worse with everyone not knowing where to go and denying entry to anyone without apples. This orchard has ZERO structure for organizing large crowds, their staff is extremely rude, and you get the vibe that they just see dollar signs - they could care less if you enjoyed your stay. The staff seems miserable. This place lacks organization and kindness on levels I can't even explain. I will never bring my business back there, and I will encourage anyone I can to stay far away from this place. Instead of implementing a capacity limit, they shuffle as many people as they can through the door and treat customers like trash when crowds get thick. DO BETTER....

The Apple orchard is really nice. I got to go there with my Kindergarteners class for a field trip. I wanted to give them a five stars but won't due to what I saw and heard. The good: Great place for children and people to walk, learn, and have fun and get fruit. Huge. Plain awesome. The bad: If you don't like working here or don't know how to treat children..LEAVE!

So...my review is based on what I experienced. On this school trip, the children loved and played on the playground. Enjoyed picking a pumpkin & apples. Had a great time. But I must mention what occurred. On our hayride, when they take you to pick apples, they tell you to get 3 apples. Well, a child from another group I wasn't chaperoning, decided to get 4 apples..and another to eat. Remember, these children are 5 & 6. Little and innocent. Excited too. Well the lady that was giving us a tour and driving the tractor was letting us know all about the apples and what not when she noticed a child was eating one of his apples. She stopped cold turkey to scold him. First for eating a dirty apple and then when she got close to him she saw that he had more apples than he was supposed to. She scolded him and then told him to put the Apple in the bag. Supposedly bees get instantly attracted to the fructose. True but After the boy puts his apple in his bag, she took it with a disgusted face cuz the poor kid had boogies all over his face and apple. She then said" Eww, I don't want to stick my hand in there and get it all full of boogies." But she's did! She took the bitten Apple and threw it behind her on the floor. And then took another 2 and put them on her arm and idk what the hell she did with them but she def didn't let the boy keep them. Then she proceeded to ask if anyone had germ killer. I was in absolute shock and honestly I thinks all of the grown ups that where chaperoning and the teachers, where too. Then she got on her tractor w us and moved on like nothing had happened. But on her next stop she specifically told us to count the apples our kids had, since they where suppose to get just one more. Then we got a delicious cider and that was the end of our trip. I don't know what else to say about that employee. What do you guys think? I'm never going back, that's for sure. Humiliating a child in that manner in front of all his peers and...