Local apple orchards are hoping for a busy next few weeks.
The picking season is underway, and Apple Valley Orchards owner Jerry Van Elzen thinks they’ll have hundreds of cars there this weekend. He has about 3,000 trees on 23 acres south of De Pere. He’s run the business for more than 40 years.
Van Elzen says the heat and the rain this summer helped the trees thrive, and create what he calls “a beautiful crop.”



