Any day now, the street where I grew up will look just like a picture puzzle — row after row of deciduous trees creating a canopy of color that has always made me feel at home.

This transformative season is my favorite, the time of year when southwest Michigan really gets a chance to show off. While the populations of our towns grow in volumes in the summer months, I have always thought this time of year was the best time to visit Michiana. Not only is the scenery more attractive than ever, but we get a chance to celebrate what makes our region special. When all the summer vacationers have gone home, we full-time residents celebrate the literal fruits of our labor.

The Four Flags Area Apple Festival, which starts today, is a prime example of all the things that make fall the highlight of the year in this area. Celebrating the apple harvest, this giant festival draws thousands to Niles for a weekend full of fall fun.

While crimson and orange leaves may signify the start of autumn for many, my fall has always started a few weeks earlier, with the sound of footsteps on pavement in the Apple Festival Grande Parade, the smell of nutmeg and apples wafting from the apple house, and the sight of Ferris wheels and big white tents stuffed full of happy people.

For nearly half a century, the Four Flags Area Apple Festival has signified fall for southwest Michigan.

The four-day event includes carnival rides, fair food, all the apple treats you can fit in your belly, a craft fair and car show. Upwards of 100 businesses, school groups and nonprofits march the city streets for the annual Grande Parade. Bakers enter their best apple creations in the Apple Baked Goods contest, furry-faced fellows compete in a beard and moustache contest, folks of all ages dance and sing for the annual lip sync contest and square off in contests that test log-sawing, seed spitting, pie eating, apple peeling and scarecrow-making abilities.

The many spinoff events surrounding the festival underline the importance of this big event. Downtown businesses will compete for the best apple-themed window decorations, senior citizens will dance the night away at the YMCA’s annual dance, live bands will play and master barbecuers will compete for a cookoff crown.

Dedicated organizers have worked for 47 years to be sure that there is something for everyone at the Apple Festival, and that southwest Michigan really gets a chance to shine.

Colored leaves are just around the corner, but fall has arrived in southwest Michigan.