The SweeTango Blog

New SweeTango Apples Have Professional Dancing Star Chelsie Hightower at PMA

Chelsie HightowerFowler Farms invites attendees to stop by Booth #4129 to experience a tango step while they enjoy the ultimate “tango” — SweeTango® apples

To help introduce attendees at the upcoming Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Summit to new SweeTango® apples, professional dancer from the hit show Dancing with the Stars, Chelsie Hightower, will be at the Fowler Farms booth #4129 on Sunday, October 16, from noon to 4 p.m. EST.

Fowler Farms is one of 45 members of the Next Big Thing, A Growers’ Cooperative that is responsible for growing and marketing the hot new apple that has taste buds dancing this fall.

Excitement has been building for years for new SweeTango® apples and there are a lot more to bite into this year – three times as many as 2010, with continued growth projected for 2012. A cross between the popular Honeycrisp™ and Zestar!™ varieties, SweeTango® is an early-season apple that began gracing store shelves in limited quantities in 2009.

Both sweet and tart with hints of fall spices, SweeTango®’s satisfying crunch and complex flavor deliver a superior apple-eating experience.

“When you’re talking about an apple that has a great name like SweeTango® that dances to a long and satisfying finish on the palate, it seemed only fitting to invite professional dancer Chelsie Hightower to join us at our booth for PMA attendees to meet and greet Chelsie from Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance,” said Lee Peters, VP Sales & Marketing, Fowler Farms. “We encourage apple lovers to stop by and experience the tango while they enjoy the ultimate tango – SweeTango®!”

The same apple breeders who gave us the Honeycrisp released SweeTango® after more than a decade in development. The new apple is grown and marketed by Next Big Thing, A Growers’ Cooperative – a unique partnership of some of the most respected family-owned orchards in North America, including Fowler Farms.

Apples like SweeTango don’t come along very often, said David Bedford, University of Minnesota apple breeder and a key contributor in the development of SweeTango®, Honeycrisp and Zestar!

“It can take 30 years and 10,000 attempts to find a great-tasting apple,” Bedford said. “Consumers who have tried SweeTango® are telling us we’ve found something special with this new apple, specifically citing its complex flavor combination as a key attribute that sets this apple-eating experience apart from any other.”

The name SweeTango® was chosen to reflect the harmonious flavor combination you experience upon first bite. The distinctive crispness and complex flavors of the apple promise to make it an immediate consumer favorite.

Harvested early in the growing season, SweeTango® is a managed apple variety, which means only licensed growers can produce the fruit. The website, and Facebook (Facebook.com/SweeTango) and Twitter (@SweeTango) pages, have updated information on where consumers can find this great new apple in their area.

About Fowler Farms
Located in Wolcott, NY, Fowler Farms’ roots date back several generations. John and Bob Fowler are fifth generation growers, and while the original homestead still remains in production, the operation has grown to manage more than 2,500 acres of fruit. Its main emphasis is on apple production, and SweeTango® apples are its newest variety. You can learn more about Fowler Farms at www.fowlerfarms.com.

About Next Big Thing
Headquartered in Lake City, Minn., Next Big Thing, A Growers’ Cooperative is a 45-member cooperative of family growers, spread over five time zones from Nova Scotia to Washington State, that will grow and market managed varieties of apples, beginning with SweeTango®. You can find more information on SweeTango® at www.sweetango.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sweetango. Also follow @SweeTango on Twitter.

About Chelsie Hightower
Chelsie Hightower is a Latin ballroom dancer best known for being a regular dance partner, trainer and choreographer on the show Dancing with the Stars. Hightower started dancing when she was nine years old and was a U.S. World finalist in 2005, and competed on Team USA. She joined the season-eight cast of Dancing with the Stars and participated in the following five seasons.