👏 Three cheers for Friday!

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high of 84 and a low of 63.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Louis Clotman!

🥂 Your dinner plans just got more interesting. Axios Social Club will pick the restaurant and your dinner crew — you just show up. Grab a seat on Oct. 6.

Today's newsletter is 1,011 words, a 4-minute read.

The night of the big April freeze, Norm Schultz couldn't sleep. He stared at the thermometer at Linvilla Orchards: 24 degrees — and dropping fast.

• As frost spread on the grounds, the orchard's lead farmer thought, "That's a lot of hours to go before the temperature goes up."

Why it matters: Pennsylvania is the nation's fourth-largest apple producer. As fall arrives, farmers are reeling from one of the most destructive freezes in generations, which devastated fruit crops and left apples in short supply.

Driving the news: Several Philly-area farms that rely on fall agritourism for a big chunk of their yearly revenue are now scrambling.

• Some have canceled their apple-picking seasons altogether, while others are warning festival-goers to expect fewer — and smaller — apples.

Zoom out: In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a disaster declaration that impacted 17 counties in the Commonwealth following a deep freeze April 19-21.

• The declaration provided farmers access to interest-free loans and other programs intended to help with recovery efforts.
• Then in August, the Shapiro administration announced $10 million in grants were available to impacted farmers — but when it's all divided up, Schultz says, most will likely only receive a small portion of those funds.

Zoom in: Linvilla Orchards in Delaware County anticipates $1 million in losses from its pick-your-own program after losing over 90% of its apple crop this year, Schultz tells Axios, plus large amounts of other fruits such as peaches and cherries.

• The freeze wiped out about 80% of the apples at New Jersey-based Johnson's Corner Farm, operations manager Frank Pellegrino tells Axios.
• One saving grace: Many farms plant several different types of crops every year to guard against a natural disaster that could ruin a whole growing season.

Yes, but: Apples are king in Pennsylvania.

• The multibillion industry is centered in what's known as the Adams County Fruitbelt, a fertile region near Gettysburg that has 20,000 of the state's 31,000 fruit-producing acres.

Flashback: A farmer for the last four decades, Schultz knew right away the freeze was bad, even though some of his colleagues initially remained optimistic that it wouldn't have a lasting impact.

• "It was a lot slower of a demise on the flowers on the apples," Schultz says. "It kept hanging on, fruit started showing up. It was the oddest thing."
• Weeks later, the devastation came into sharp focus when Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding held a virtual meeting with hundreds of farmers across the state to talk about the long-term effects and recovery.
• Some surviving fruit was misshapen, not as sweet or had frost rings — not suitable to sell to customers who expect perfect-looking apples, Schultz says.

What they're saying: The few apples that survived from the roughly 1.2 million Linvilla Orchards typically yields each year — from Red Delicious to later-season GoldRush — will likely be picked clean within the next two weeks, Schultz says.

• He even bought some bushels from a Massachusetts orchard for any unsatisfied apple-picker who risks the $11 fee to go picking themselves.

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Ed Sheeran's tour has been rocked by the decision to drop Macklemore as an opener following the rapper's onstage pro-Palestinian comments.

Why it matters: The Loop Tour rolls into Philly on Saturday and could be met with protests.

Catch up quick: Macklemore voiced his support for Palestinians and accused Israel of genocide during his shows on Sept. 4-5 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

• Sheeran said the decision to drop Macklemore was the promoter's, not his own.
• All of Sheeran's other supporting acts have since dropped out — including a group that performs with Sheeran during part of the show.

State of play: Lincoln Financial Field will host Sheeran and what's left of his tour at 5:30pm. (Tickets: $90+)

Meanwhile, local pro-Palestinian groups say they will demonstrate at NRG Station — near the stadium — ahead of the concert at 4:30pm, per social media postings.

• Protest organizers, including the Palestine Coalition, did not return Axios' request for comment.

Zoom in: Philly police are working with Linc organizers on concert security and are aware of the planned protest, a police spokesperson tells Axios.

• The department will monitor the event and adjust its deployment accordingly.

What else: The tour's promoters, Messina Touring Group, told Rolling Stone Monday that concert venues threatened to cancel shows unless Macklemore was dropped.

🎰 Time is running short for so-called skill games in Pennsylvania as an Oct. 13 court-mandated deadline approaches, which will effectively ban the state's roughly 70,000 machines.

• Meanwhile, state lawmakers have yet to agree how to legalize, regulate and potentially tax the machines. (Spotlight PA)

👋 The head of the Free Library Foundation resigned yesterday effective immediately. Monique Moore Pryor left her post to "attend to pressing family matters," per a news release.

• The foundation, which is the nonprofit fundraising arm of the city's public library system, will begin searching for a new president in the spring.

🚨 Upper Darby has become the latest in the region to place new restrictions on its cooperation with federal immigration agents.

• The new rules, passed this week, include preventing township police from assisting with federal enforcement activities. (KYW)

Talk about a lonely Bird.

Axios Philadelphia reader Bill F. was the only reader who responded to Monday's caption challenge for the Birds' home opener.

Luckily, he had some gems about Eagles' wide receiver Makai Lemon:

• "I told them I needed a large!"
• He may be Lemon, but right now he's more Lime.
• "Sssshh! I can't hear Merrill!"

The bottom line: Winner, winner, lonely dinner.

🎉 Isaac is so happy it's Friday.

🤞 Mike is hoping to pick at least a few apples this weekend from local orchards.

Have a good day!

Today's newsletter was edited by Jen Burkett.