Apple Festival in Almaty: Tons of fruit, music, and good traditions
Vibrant and heartfelt celebrations took place at the Almaty Resort Sanatorium to mark the International Apple Day, Kazinform News Agency reports.

The Apple Day is observed annually on October 21 and symbolizes nature’s abundance, health, and prosperity.

The festival has become a good tradition for Almaty residents. Families with children, honored citizens, artists, and folk craftsmen gathered at the Almaty Resort Sanatorium. Guests were welcomed with music, the aroma of fresh pastries, warm smiles and juicy and ripe apples.

Almaty, located at the base of the Zailiyskiy Alatau, is considered the birthplace of the apple. The region is home to the wild Sievers apple tree, the ancestor of all cultivated apple varieties worldwide.

According to director of Almaty Resort Gulzhanat Bugubayeva the goal is not just to mark the Apple Day, but to create a celebration for the people since the apple is a symbol of Almaty and of health.

Over a thousand guests, including bloggers, artists, media, and city residents arrived to attend the festive event.
Laura Shadymanova, the head of Molecular Genetics and Plant Biotechnology the Laboratory at the Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction said Kazakhstan is home to several wild apple species, especially the Sievers apple, which grows in mountainous regions. Genetic studies conducted in the 1990s confirmed it as the closest ancestor of modern commercial varieties.

She noted that Russian botanist and plant breeder Nikolai Vavilov was the first to identify the Almaty region as the apple’s original homeland back to the 1920s. Later, Kazakh academician Aimak Zhangaliyev expanded this research spending decades to identify many valuable varieties.

Today, over 100 apple varieties are included into Kazakhstan’s State Breeding Registry, as well as 27 Sievers apple types.
To note, Kazakhstan and UN FAO debate promotion of Almaty Aport apples as national brand.