Michigan’s Best Apple Cider Mills: Meckley’s Flavor Fruit Farm

Once upon a time -- right after World War II -- Ray Meckley met his future wife, Louise. Ray was working as a hired hand on a commercial apple farm in Cement City, Michigan, when his future wife, who was working on a senior project, visited the farm to help with harvest.

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They would exchange their first words, fittingly, under an apple tree that still stands today. If it weren't for this chance meeting, Michigan could be without one of it's premiere Fall destinations: Meckley's Flavor Fruit Farm. Ray and Louise purchased the farm in 1956 on a land contract, and they never looked back.

Today, Ray's son Steve and his wife Adrian are in the driver's seat, proudly steering the family legacy. Steve's kids, Lindsey and Nick, and their spouses ride shotgun on the family hayride as Meckley's Flavor Fruit Farm heads into the future.

The family has cranked up the fall fun in the last several years and continues to add new agritourism attractions. Of course, you can still pick your apples and pumpkins and ride around the farm in a hay trailer, but they've added a corn maze, food trucks, games, live music, a brewery, a winery, and a bakery.

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Let's talk bakery for a minute. The line may be long, but it's worth the wait. The donuts at Meckley's are life-changing, and some of them have bacon on them. Yes, bacon.

I may be biased regarding my choice of Michigan's best apple orchard, but I think everyone has their favorites. For me, it's Meckley's Flavor Fruit Farm. As a Miller Elementary School student, we took field trips there to learn how apple cider was made.

My parents would take my sister and me to Meckley's pumpkin patch, where we plucked our first jack-o-lanterns. I still remember planning what I would carve while it sat on my lap on the hayride back to our car. Several years later, my son and daughter had those same experiences and more at Meckley's.

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I know these fall rituals aren't unique to my family or exclusive to Meckley's. Memories like this have been and, hopefully, will continue to sprout for generations to come at any of Michigan's tremendous apple orchards, pumpkin patches, strawberry fields, and Christmas tree farms.

And, if you go, be sure to visit McCourtie Park, which is said to be a hideout for Al Capone during the rum-running days along US 12. Look at some pictures below and see the park, not even a mile from Meckley's.