News

Apple Ambassador wants to focus on farmers

Apple Ambassador Heather Grace Wetzel

By Amy McCraw, Published: July 16, 2024

The Apple Ambassador for this year’s N.C. Apple Festival has a message for people who think the Labor Day weekend event is only fun, food and music.

  “There is so much more to the Apple Festival than meets the eye,” 17-year-old Heather Grace Wetzel said. “Look deeper into it. Put yourself in apple farmers’ shoes and learn how much they impact the community.”

Wetzel, a rising senior at East Henderson High School, learned she would represent the 2024 N.C. Apple Festival weeks ago when she received a call shortly after finishing her interviews with the apple ambassador selection committee.

“I started bawling my eyes out,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

  Wetzel said she entered the contest to become this year’s apple ambassador because she is a proud native of Hendersonville and wanted to learn more about the history of her hometown and its apple farmers.

  “I wanted to give back to the community that has given me so much,” she said.

  Wetzel grew up attending the Apple Festival each year with her family. She said her parents did not always have money for the rides or other activities at the festival. But the free music and time spent having fun with her family were more meaningful than anything money could buy.

  “We always went when my brother and I were little kids,” she said.

Wetzel does not come from an apple farming family, but she said she has tried to learn as much as possible about the history of apple farming in the community and how much the industry has shaped the history of the area. She said she looks forward to meeting with apple farmers during the festival.

  As Apple Ambassador, Wetzel said she wants to connect with farmers and honor their accomplishments during the festival.

  “I want to be somebody little girls and little boys can look up to and say, ‘I want to be like she was,'” Wetzel said.

   The daughter of Ronaliz and Kevin Wetzel, Heather will be awarded a $2,000 college scholarship upon graduation from high school in June 2025. She will attend all four days of the festival and will also represent the festival at the N.C. Mountain State Fair as well as other events across the state throughout the year.

In addition to her duties as Apple Ambassador, Wetzel works at SweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt in Hendersonville and is a volunteer at Pardee Hospital and the Rock Church. She is also a cheerleader for both basketball and football and is on HHS’s yearbook staff. Wetzel participated in the Battle of the Books and is a member of DECA, the Health Occupations Students of America, the Student Government Association, the National Honor Society and the Action, Inspiration and Motivation club.

  Wetzel hopes to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after graduating high school and aims to earn a degree that will allow her to become a physician assistant or nurse practitioner with her ultimate goal to “travel the world helping folks in countries with great medical needs.”

  The Apple Ambassador program, which provides two scholarships each year, is open to all rising seniors in Henderson County.

  This year’s runner-up, Rayne Ashley English, is also a rising senior at East. She will be awarded a $1,000 college scholarship. 

  Jamie Fraser Wright, of West Henderson High School; Kruesi Elizabeth Graham and Reese Emerson Redden, of Hendersonville High School; and Maryn Braddy and Alexzander Hunter Jacobs of North Henderson High School were also chosen to represent their schools for interviews and to join Wetzel and English at the festival and on this year’s Apple Ambassador float.

  Applicants for the scholarship are required to submit their transcripts, list of activities, provide letters of recommendation and write an essay on the Apple Festival and the importance of the apple industry to this area. The Apple Ambassador is selected based on this information and through an interview process. 

  The Apple Ambassador and runner-up are awarded the Evelyn Lutz Hill Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship honors Hill, who served as the Secretary of the North Carolina Apple Growers for many years.

  The Apple Festival is held every year over Labor Day weekend. This year it will be Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in downtown Hendersonville.