Tompkins County’s iteration of the time-honored Upstate New York fall tradition, the Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival, will open this Friday in Downtown Ithaca at noon and continue until Sunday, Sept. 29. The three-day festival celebrates one of upstate New York’s most iconic and valuable agricultural exports — trailing only Washington in production, the state produces 30 million bushels of apples annually, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. “The idea is to help share the story and the strong, rich agriculture economy that we have in the county and the greater Finger Lakes. With apples being the prime crop in New York State, we are in the prime apple region,” Allison Graffin, marketing director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, told the Ithaca Times.