The National Cherry Festival is a

food festival A food festival is a festival, that uses food, often produce, as its central theme. These festivals have always been a means of uniting communities through celebrations of harvests and giving thanks for a plentiful growing season. History Food ...

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

. It began in 1925 as the Blessing of the Blossoms Festival, which was held in early May to attract tourists to Northern Michigan to view the blooming cherry blossoms. In 1931 the Michigan Legislature renamed the festival the National Cherry Festival, and moved the event to the summer.

History

The first cherry trees in the region were planted on the

Old Mission Peninsula Peninsula Township is a civil township of Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 6,068, up from 5,433 at the 2010 census. The township is coterminous with the Old Mission Peninsul ...

in 1852 by Rev. Peter Dougherty. Commercial orchard production of cherries began in 1893 near Old Mission. The very first festival was held in May 1925, and was known as the Blessing of the Blossoms. The first cherry queen was Gertrude Brown. In 1931, the

Michigan Legislature The Michigan Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ...

renamed the festival to the National Cherry Festival, and moved to July. The festival was cancelled from 1942 to 1947 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1975, President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

, a Michigan native, attended the festival, and led the Cherry Royale Parade as Grand Marshal. On July 25, 1987, Cherry Festival participants earned a place in the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for baking the world's largest cherry pie. The pie was in diameter, weighing 28,350 pounds. This replaced the pie baked nine years earlier in

Charlevoix, Michigan Charlevoix ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Charlevoix County. The population was 2,348 at the 2020 census. Charlevoix is mostly surrounded by Charlevoix Township, but the two are administered autonomously ...

. This record was held until July 14, 1990, when a pie weighing , in diameter was baked and eaten by approximately 1500 people in

Oliver, British Columbia Oliver is a town near the south end of the Okanagan Valley in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, with a population of nearly 5,000 people. It is located along the Okanagan River by Tuc-el-nuit Lake between Osoyoos and Okanagan Fal ...

. In 2020, Festival Officials announced on Thursday, April 16, 2020, that the 90th National Cherry Festival was to be postponed until the following year. This postponement was in light of global health concerns regarding the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

References

External links

National Cherry Festival

World's Largest Cherry Pie Pan

Airshow
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History

See also

References

External links