It’s Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch time, and the Coulee Region Farm2School program is joining schools, preschools, colleges, businesses and individuals across the Great Lakes Region in celebrating National Farm to School Month by crunching into locally grown apples in during the annual Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch on October 11th! All public schools in La Crosse, Onalaska, West Salem, Bangor, Holmen and La Crescent-Hokah as well as Coulee Region Farm2School partners Gundersen Health System, Mayo Clinic Health System, and La Crosse County Health Department will be celebrating.

Coulee Region Farm2School will be Celebrating the Great Apple Crunch in the following ways:

1) Onalaska students at Irving Pertzsch will celebrate with the Onalaska Fire Department – the fire fighters are serving lunch and showing off their new fire truck.

2) Holmen students will be enjoying local apples in their newly built orchard – in a few years the orchards will grow apples for the entire district.

3) Hamilton Elementary will be crunching together with Gundersen Health System staff as part of the trail renaming on the Gundersen Campus. Starts at 12:15 p.m. 

4) Mayo Clinic Health System will be passing out free local apples at noon in the Market Place in La Crosse and the Café in Sparta. Apple inspired treats and local apple bags will be available for purchase.

If your business is interested in participating, sign up here and share a photo to Facebook. The goal is to reach 1.7 MILLION crunches this year! Search the following hash tags to follow along! #GreatAppleCrunch, #WIAppleCrunch, and #F2SMonth

This collective crunch encourages healthy eating and supports farm to school and local food initiatives throughout the Coulee Region. The Coulee Region Farm2School program is a partnership between La Crosse County Health Department, Mayo Clinic Health System – Franciscan Healthcare, Gundersen Health System, and the School Districts of Bangor, Holmen, La Crescent-Hokah, La Crosse, Onalaska, and West Salem. Visit www.laxf2s.org for more information.