CHESTER SPRINGS, PA — Wexler Family Orchard, a fourth-generation pick-your-own operation that until last fall charged seven dollars and threw in a free cider donut, has begun charging visitors $89 per adult to enter the property, with apples available for an additional fee starting at $1.40 each.
The new pricing structure, which the orchard’s website describes as ‘an immersive heritage experience,’ includes general admission to the parking lot, access to a roped-off corridor between two trees, and one (1) photograph in front of a wooden sign that says HELLO FALL Y’ALL.
Apples, hayrides, the bathroom, the corn maze, the petting zoo, the pumpkin patch, the second pumpkin patch behind the first pumpkin patch, the cider donut, and stepping off the corridor are all separate add-ons ranging from $4 to $62. A printed map of the orchard costs $11. Looking at the printed map costs nothing, but you must hold it the whole time.
‘We’re not an orchard anymore, we’re a destination,’ said co-owner Margie Wexler, who confirmed the family had recently hired a brand consultant from Brooklyn whose previous client was a hot sauce. ‘Guests aren’t paying for apples. They’re paying for the apple of it all.’
According to a TikTok by user @autumnbrooklynn that has been viewed 4.1 million times, the gift shop sells a single Honeycrisp displayed on a pedestal under glass for $24, marketed as ‘The Original.’ A nearby placard explains it is not for sale, but visitors may take a picture with it for $9, or kiss the glass for $14.
Brittany Hoeffel, 34, drove ninety minutes from Allentown with her husband and two children expecting to spend roughly $40 on the outing. The Hoeffels left four hours later having spent $612, including a $48 ‘tree access fee’ and a $22 charge for what was described on the receipt only as ‘vibe.’
‘My daughter cried because she wanted to pick an apple, and the cheapest apple was $1.40, and we’d already spent $89 to be looking at apples,’ Hoeffel said, holding a single Gala in a burlap sack stamped with the orchard’s logo, which cost $19. ‘I had to explain to a six-year-old that the apple is not the product. She is the product.’
Wexler defended the model by noting that nearby competitors had introduced similar tiers, including a Lancaster County orchard that offers a $340 ‘Founder’s Tier’ granting access to a haybale shaped like a chair, and a Bucks County operation that began charging visitors to leave.
The orchard’s busiest weekend of the season is projected to gross more than its entire 2019 harvest, despite zero apples being sold to anyone who didn’t also purchase the $14 ‘right to chew’ upgrade. A spokesperson confirmed the orchard is currently in talks with a private equity firm and will likely be renamed Q4.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a hand-painted sign at the entrance reading WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY FARM had been replaced with a vinyl banner reading EXPERIENCES START AT $89, beneath which a small child was being charged $6 to cry about it.