Last week at the Vashon Winery, apple juice flowed. Hundreds of apples were crushed and juiced, their golden, tangy-sweet liquid poured into plastic barrels for fermenting before eventual aging in oak barrels.

For Vashon Winery owner Ron Irvine, who has been making hard cider for over two decades, pressing apples is as natural as the changing leaves each fall. His small winery now puts out about 1,000 bottles a year as a side project, largely using apples grown on Vashon.

This weekend, however, Irvine will join two other Vashon cider makers that are newer to the craft but already making a mark on the burgeoning cider scene. CiderFest, Vashon’s annual cider celebration, has a decidedly local focus this year, as Dragon’s Head Cider and Nashi Orchards will both offer tours of their orchards and facilities on Saturday in addition to a local cider tasting that afternoon.

“This year we decided we have some great cider on the island, and we want to focus on the locals,” said Jim Marsh of the chamber of commerce, noting that past tastings have featured mostly off-island cider.

While hard cider has been enjoyed in the U.S. for centuries, it’s recently seen a surge in popularity that some have compared to the craft beer boom of the 1970s. Irvine lays claim to producing the state’s first commercial cider, as he made a batch on Vashon that sold at Seattle’s Pike and Western Wine Shop in 1989. There are now more than 30 cider producers in the state, including Nashi Orchards, which began making Asian pear perry just last year, and Dragon’s Head Cider, which planted an orchard outside Vashon town a few years ago and now sells three types of cider and a perry at retailers throughout Washington and Oregon.

At Dragon’s Head, Laura Cherry says she has seen cider grow in popularity even since she and her husband started their business. Seattle Cider Summit, for instance, now attracts exponentially more tasters than it did when it started just a few years ago.

“Cider is really having a renaissance, and there is a larger and larger audience,” she said.

Vashon’s own homage to cider will kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday with cider pressing and fresh cider for sale at the Farmers Market. Nashi Orchards and Dragon’s Head will give orchard tours in the afternoon, and Seattle Distilling Company will offer local cider tasting and activities for kids. The day wraps up with a concert and dance at the Open Space for Arts & Community. For CiderFest times and details, see vashonchamber.com.