National Cherry Festival
“Eat, drink and be cherry” at the National Cherry Festival set for July 1 through 8, 2017, in Traverse City, Michigan.
Road Trips Foodies will be heading to Northern Michigan for the cherry pie and cherry wine and dried cherries to take home. Oh — and there will be all those other things typical of a community festival, including a parade, “classic car cruise”, orchard tours, foot races, beach volleyball tournaments, concerts and an air show.
First up: a “Very Cherry Pancake Breakfast” from 8 to 11 a.m. July 1, 2017, that includes not only cherries but Michigan maple syrup.
Look also for cherry pit spitting contests and cherry pie eating contests.
Sometime around 1910, cherry growers in the Grand Traverse area began to hold informal “blessing of the blossoms” ceremonies each year at blossom time in May. This became a community festival in 1925 and grew to a week-long summer celebration in 1968.
Traverse City set a world record by baking the world’s largest cherry pie on July 25, 1987. The pie was 17 ft 6 in and weighed in at 28,350 pounds.
(Photo courtesy of National Cherry Festival)
