Family-owned Wilklow Orchards and other orchards surrounding it in Highland have provided sweet sustenance to the Hudson Valley community for more than 160 years.

“We’re about 100 acres all together. Our primary crop is apples,” said Albert Wilklow, co-owner of Wilklow Orchards and Bad Seed Cider.

Just before the pandemic, the family that also makes hard cider began exploring the idea of including more events at the orchard.

“We were lucky in that we have an outdoor space and a lot of room. So when it happened last year, we were able to be open and allow people to come in and have space for everyone to social distance,” he said.

That also meant members of the local LGBTQIA+ community could also stay connected as well.

“It gave us the perfect opportunity to say ‘you know what? There’s a lot of new people that moved to the Hudson Valley, a lot of people that have felt isolated over the last 18 months.’ Working with the Wilklows, it gave us an opportunity to present an entire fall of queer entertainment,” said Stephan Hengst, co-founder of Big Gay Hudson Valley.

During Pride Month, Big Gay Hudson Valley is able to continue hosting events for all who celebrate.

“We didn’t get the go-ahead to start doing large events with large groups of people until the end of May,” Hengst said.

That, Hengst said, prevented many organizers from planning large-scale events typically featured during this month.

To commemorate a return to in-person Pride celebrations, the Wilklow family created a special edition dry hard cider containing pink edible glitter. Each can is filled carefully with cider made from apples from the orchard, on their new canning line.

Big Gay Hudson Valley’s Queer Summer Nights series will continue until August. Albert Wilklow said this is just the continuation of a fulfilling partnership with the community.

“I think it’s important that we got involved with Big Gay Hudson Valley as a way to make a safe space where people felt comfortable and a way to bring community together,” said Wilklow.

The special edition hard cider will be available at the orchard throughout June.