If it’s Valentine’s Day, it must be time for caramel apples in downtown Fremont. Main Street of Fremont Inc. has turned this traditional Halloween treat into a much-anticipated staple of the February holiday which is all about sweetness. In three years, the size of the promotion has doubled. The first year, Fremont businesswoman and Main Street board member Margaret Stahl got a group of volunteers together at a board member’s house and the group dipped 500 apples in caramel, rolling a few in nuts and drizzling them all with chocolate. They sell out at $8 each. Last year, they gathered in the back room of a local business where the dippers and drizzlers created 1,000 apples. Again, a sell-out. “It’s a bring your own crock pot event,” said Main Street Manager Leslie Carter. “We expect it’ll take two days to dip and decorate the apples and wrap them in cellophane with a ribbon and a tag that says specially made for you by Main Street volunteers.” She expects 25 volunteers will help out. Each apple also has a numbered plastic ring attached to it. Recipients can take their rings to either downtown Fremont jewelry store to see if it is the winning number for a $300 diamond ring. “That gets people downtown and gets the excitement building,” Ms. Carter said. And, this year, there’s also a dinner for two at a downtown restaurant being given away to a lucky apple purchaser. The apples are sold in advance. “We deliver the larger orders to the banks or other businesses that buy a quantity,” she said. Others just stop by a previously determined location to pick theirs up. They have never had leftovers.
