In Johnson, one old engine turns a cider press party into a yearly tradition

About 60 neighbors and friends gathered in a barn on a dirt road in Johnson to press cider using a one-lunger engine, an antique single-cylinder gas engine of the kind once common on Vermont farms. Dan Noyes keeps the engine running for the gathering, held once a year. The engine is a hit-or-miss type, which fires only when it needs speed and otherwise rides on momentum stored in its flywheels.

Noyes said such engines once powered corn choppers, sawmills and water pumps on farms. Millions were made, including some at a foundry in Morrisville. "They're not necessarily safe," Noyes said.

Neighbors arrived with apples in five-gallon buckets, from small wild apples to large orchard apples, lined up and ready for the grinder. Howard Romero described the press as a large screw that squeezes apple pomace. Pomace goes into burlap sacks, which are stacked and pressed. "That hasn't changed since the days of Archimedes," Romero said.

Norm LaRow, who lives at the end of the road, has restored an engine of the same kind himself. His wife told him it looked dangerous when he got it running in his garage. LaRow has lived in Johnson for 31 years and said the cider press marks the close of the season, alongside other seasonal activities such as picking ramps in the spring. He sat outside drinking a beer with his neighbor, Paul Warden.

Around the other side of the house, a cauldron hung over a fire, brewing soup made from leftover garden vegetables. A bottle of whiskey sat nearby for those tending it. Mark Woodward, who picked up a commercial pizza oven at an auction 10 years ago, cooked pizza for the gathering. Woodward helped start the party decades ago. "All our friends and people we don't know show up here," Woodward said. "I married some people here."

Woodward said the gathering has run for 32 years and that no one has been hurt or fallen ill, including from the unpasteurized cider. Reporter Erica Heilman visited the cider press party in Johnson for the interview.