Giant Apple Has Sprouted up in Downtown Wyandotte

The recently got a giant piece of fruit added to its weekly offerings.

But this one isn't for eating.

The 4-foot-tall painted apple is a piece of artwork that helps make up the statewide MI Apple Trail.

The trail features 20 super-sized Michigan apples throughout Wayne, Oakland and Genesee counties that are each decorated by local artists.

The project, funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, is the result of a partnership between Detroit’s Eastern Market and the Michigan Apple Committee aimed at promoting art, local markets and Michigan’s apple industry.

“Each of the 20 participating markets has received these four-foot tall fiberglass apples at no cost to them,” spokeswoman Vivian Carmody said. “So the idea is that each market will get a local artist to decorate or paint their apple and it will be displayed ... through the middle of September at the local farmers markets.”

Wyandotte’s apple, which arrived blank and gray, was painted by Nancy Pitel, a full-time painter of portraits and fantasy realism. 

Pitel, the former director of the Scarab Club and the , brushed on depictions of the riverfront, the farmers market, parades, fireworks and several noticeable attractions.

“The apple is an amazing representation of downtown Wyandotte’s sights, events and festive atmosphere," said Natalie Rankine, director of the city's Downtown Development Authority. "We are thrilled with Nancy’s work. She has more than exceeded our expectations."

The apple will be on display through Sept. 15, the date of the Wyandotte Farmers Market Farmer’s Fair. The fair will feature cooking demonstrations, corn husk dolls, sack races, three-legged races, an ugly produce contest and registration for the 2011 Farmers Market Blue Ribbon Pie Cook-off, which takes place the following day.

The Wyandotte market is held weekly, from noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays, at the corner of First and Elm streets. The Sept. 15 farmer's fair will be extended two hours, ending at 8 p.m.

All 20 apples from throughout the state will be on display at Detroit Eastern Market from Sept. 17 through Oct. 14.

On Oct. 14, Eastern Market will host its annual Apple Gala and Auction. There, each of the apples will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with proceeds benefiting each of the markets that hosted the project.

Additionally, the Michigan Apple Committee is hosting a passport program, which encourages passport holders to visit multiple farmers markets in Michigan to receive stamps. Once enough stamps are collected, the passport can be mailed in to enter the participant in a prize drawing.

“The idea (is that) this is a public art project that would both encourage people to visit their local farmers markets as well as kind of celebrate our Michigan apple industry,” Carmody said.

Market attendees are encouraged to vote for individual apples along the MI Apple Trail at the Michigan Apple Trail website.