October 21, 2026: Celebrating the Apple

A tree marked for removal at a Minnesota research station and an abandoned London market that hadn't sold fruit in sixteen years both proved the same unlikely lesson about produce and business value.

On October 21, 1990, the UK charity Common Ground, founded by Sue Clifford and Angela King, held the first Apple Day at Covent Garden's old Apple Market, a celebration meant to protect disappearing orchards and apple varieties that grew into a nationwide tradition over the following two decades. Around the same era, University of Minnesota breeder David Bedford saved a nearly discarded test tree that would eventually become Honeycrisp, patented in the late 1980s and released commercially in 1991 after more than thirty years of development. The episode traces both stories side by side, showing how patient science and a single well-timed public celebration each turned an overlooked product into real, lasting business value.

This is bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.

Written and hosted by Ron Trucks. Research and editing by Rodney Russ. Sound design by Angela Cahoy. Music by Cody Martin and Soundstripe.

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