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June 29, 2005
Warm spring makes life like a bowl of cherries for farmersCrop five to seven days ahead of last yearBY LINDSAY VANHULLERecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Local sweet cherries should be ready for eating, tasting and pit-spitting contests when the National Cherry Festival starts Saturday. Area farmers said their crop is slightly ahead of schedule due to warm spring weather. "The festival is starting early this year, but the early varieties should be ready," said Dennis Hoxsie, owner of Hoxsie's Farm Market in Acme. "I was just out in the orchard and ate a few, and you could do that right now." Several farmers said the cherries might be smaller than usual because of a lack of rain. Even so, they still would be healthy and ripe enough to eat, said Jim Bardenhagen, director of the MSU Extension office in Leelanau County. He's hoping for some rain soon - but not just before the harvest. "Then, they'll crack," he said. The crop on average is about five to seven days ahead of this time last year, he said, adding that in the past, some early cherries have been ready to harvest by July 4. "If we're going to have them, I think this year's going to be it,"Bardenhagen said. In some years, cherries have been imported from Washington state for the festival because the local crop was not ready. The Cherry Festival usually offers sweet cherries to festivalgoers, although the festival represents both sweet and tart cherries, said Judy LaCross, director of cherry promotion for the festival. "People don't eat tart cherries out of hand," LaCross said. "Usually tart cherries are made into some kind of cooked or baked items, but sweet cherries, of course, are the ones everyone thinks about." At Amon Orchards in Williamsburg, the cherry crop also is ahead of schedule, owner David Amon said. The orchard's sweet cherries are expected to be harvested near the first week of July, with tart cherries following at the end of that first week, Amon said. "Everything's in good shape," he said. "There's a nice crop up here in northern Michigan."
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Record-Eagle/Lara Neel
