SUNRISE ORCHARDS – GAYS MILLS

The Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout interviewed  Allen Teach, President and Principal Owner of Sunrise Orchards. 

Sunrise Orchards and Sunrise Orchards at Hillcrest

The largest among Gays Mills operations is the Sunrise Orchard, located at 48340 Highway 171. In addition to their many acres of apples, Sunrise also recently purchased the nearby Hillcrest with a salesroom located at the intersection of 16602 Highway 61 and Highway 171.

We caught up with Sunrise Orchard President and Co-owner Allen Teach to see how things were going this year. Allen gave us the quick recap last Saturday of Sunrise in 2025.

“This is our busiest time of the year,” Teach said.

We asked have the ‘Road Closed’ signs for the Highway 131 construction had any affect on the business? It shouldn’t have since all the orchards except one are located on Highway 171, which is not experiencing any construction this year.

“No, it doesn’t seem to have affected our business,” Teach replied. “But, I am interested somewhat on what the effect of closing the Lansing Bridge later this fall might have.”

The Lansing Bridge is scheduled to be replaced in 2027 or maybe 2026. The current old bridge is scheduled to be removed later this fall. It does function as the only entry point to Wisconsin between the bridges in LaCrosse and Prairie du Chien.

So, let’s get back to the apples. What about the Sunrise apple crop in 2025?

“It’s an outstanding crop,” Teach said. “We’ve had a smooth growing year this year. There were no late spring frosts. We had the right amount of rain and the cool weather earlier was nice.”

The week-plus period of low temperatures that began right after Labor Day helped to color up the apples. Cool weather created red apples.

“We have a full crop of every variety this year,” Teach noted. “Last year, we were down a little with our Honeycrisp crop, but not this year. The same for the Macs, Cortlands, Ambrosias and Evercrisps. There are no weak spots.”

After the great growing season, the weather hitting a high in the 60s and lows in the 40s would be great going forward, according to Teach.

What about the labor situation? There are labor shortages in a number of businesses-what about apple pickers and the other orchard workers needed to pick and process the  crop?

“Labor is good, we have our returning local folks who always do a real good job for us,” Teach explained. “We have groups of pickers who return every year and they’re all here.”

Of  course, in the packing shed, Sunrise has been using South African workers, who have H2A Visas to work in agriculture in the United States. This started several years ago. 

“We enjoy the company of the South Africans every year, working in the shed and grading apples,” Teach said. Sunrise has about 20 South African workers this year.

“There’s a lot of hoops to jump through to get the H2A visas but we have a lot of help to do it. The South Africans really enjoy doing this and interacting with everybody in Gays Mills,” Teach said.

In addition to some really great apples and cider, the Sunrise Orchard has another favorite product–apple cider donuts made fresh daily. Sunrise sells thousands and thousands of the donuts, mostly in 12-count boxes. Now, there’s something new in the world of Sunrise donuts. This year, in addition to the powdered-sugar-covered cider donuts, the orchard is offering a glazed cider donut that has gotten a great initial reception.

There’s also been some changes down the highway at the Sunrise Orchards at Hillcrest, now owned by Sunrise. There are new bathrooms constructed and a well has been put in.

The Hillcrest salesroom is still run by Terre Van Haren and Brenda Morga.

Customers can find almost everything at Hillcrest that can be found at the Sunrise Orchards–it’s just on a smaller scale at Sunrise Orchards at Hillcrest.

One thing that Hillcrest has is a large amount of potatoes and onions at a good price, according to Teach. Buying the potatoes and onions in larger amounts can help  families save money on their stretched food budgets.

Speaking of prices, Teach noted that prices for apples at Sunrise has not increased since last year. That is a pretty unique statement for any business in the United States in 2025.

On a larger level, Sunrise does sell into the wholesale market.

“There’s a huge apple crop in Washington this year and it is expected this put downward pressure in the wholesale market,” Teach noted. “It’s hard to say what will happen in the future at this point.”

The orchard owner noted that apple prices were still going up in many stores.

There’s also something humorous afoot in the background at the Sunrise Orchard. This year, it’s the ‘Gourd Walk,’ outside the salesroom. Orchard workers  created a trellis to grow the gourds on. This created the Gourd Walk, as in ‘Under the Gourd Walk,’ reminiscent of that favorite pop song ‘Under the Boardwalk.’

To make things even more interesting, there has already been an engagement ‘Under the Gourd Walk’ and who knows what might yet happen. The leaves of the plants have started dropping off now, but the gourds and the vines to which they are attached remain.

Other things that might interest families include the kids play area, the dog exercise area and some bean bag throwing areas.

So, what  about the heavy rains earlier in the week? Well, the afternoon downpour Monday did end the picking for the day. However, Teach says the crews will pick through light rain. The orchard is getting pretty good at watching the weather and finding the hours when apples can be picked. Lightning and thunder will  call for cessation of picking.

If you came to Gays Mills  for apples, cider and the like and some pleasant conversations in the salesroom, don't miss Sunrise Orchards and the Sunrise Orchards at Hillcrest Orchard. The apples are good and so are the people.

Gillian Pomplun

Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout

Published: Sep 24, 2025, 11:24 AM