Holiday apple tradition makes comeback in Wallace
How do you like them apples? Rylan Griffin displays some of fresh apples that were handed out at Mountain West Bank on Christmas Eve. The bank is planning on keeping the former tradition alive and well in Wallace moving forward.
HEATHER O'NEILL
WALLACE — Traditions, much like the holidays themselves, have a way of creeping back up on you and Mountain West Bank got the jump on that just before the Christmas weekend.
The Friday before Christmas, Wallace’s newest and sole financial institution revived the old tradition of handing out apples to their customers on Christmas Eve. With that falling on a Saturday last year, they improvised just a tad and handed them out a day early.
The apples were grown by Gebbers Farms, a fifth-generation, family-owned farm in the Brewster, Wash., area of the North Cascade Range — they are one of the top apple growers in the Pacific Northwest.
The bank now operates out of the historic First National Bank building on the corner of Sixth and Bank streets in Wallace, which made for the perfect holiday backdrop to revive a historical tradition.
Branch manager Gina Doerschel explained how banks that previously operated out of the building, as well as many others throughout the community all handed out apples to every customer the night before Christmas.
She also explained how apples have a strong connection to the holiday season. In many Eastern European cultures, young men have traditionally given girls a decorated apple at Christmastime as a romantic gesture. Plus, people have been decorating trees during the holiday season since pagan times. Back then they used paper, candles, nuts and fruit, with apples being the most commonly used. The tradition was adopted as part of Christmas celebrations as paganism gave way to Christianity. In fact, some speculate Christmas tree ornaments are round because they mimic the gold-wrapped apples Germans used to place on their Christmas trees.
“While there were several people unaware of the apple tradition, there were many that it brought back memories for,” Doerschel said. “Some by being given the apples, and some who remembered being the child dressed festively handing them out. It was fun to do and I hope those that came in enjoyed it.”
Mountain West Bank opened its Wallace branch in June 2022 and is located at 419 Sixth St.