Cherry Festival brings people from far and wide to Polson's streets
<p>Kylie Richter/For the Leader Hundreds of people attended the annual Cherry Festival in Polson this past Saturday and Sunday.</p>
Experimental cherries
<p><span>Winners and judges at the Polson Flathead Cherry Festival Most Unique Food made with Cherries Contest are front row Diana Sawyer, 3rd place and 1st place, Noreen Seifert. Judges in back row are Wade Nash, Sharon Fulton, Jim Manley and Dennis DeVries. Second place winner not pictured. Three entries competed for Jackie M certificates. 1st place was Cherry Breakfast Bars, 2nd was Pie Cherry Chutney and 3rd place was Cherry Mousse.</span></p>
By MICHAEL BEHNING
for the Lake County Leader
Montana’s greatest treasure is the life that brings depth to its beauty, and it was discovered at the 2016 Polson Main Street Cherry Festival this past weekend.
Cherry stands along local highways reflect a marriage between humanity and nature’s bounty. The celebration of this union extended beautifully into the streets of Polson through festival’s vendors, tourists, and locals.
Among the vendors was a war veteran who also happens to be a local cherry grower with Glacier Fresh. Col. Ward Marshall, U.S. Army, Ret., whose service record includes tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, maintains 1,700 trees at Yellow Bay.
“Our cherries comply with GlobalG.A.P. (Good Agricultural Practices), which exceed all state and national standards,” Marshall said. “They are acceptable to all standards in every nation worldwide.”
“But to taste Glacier Fresh cherries you must attend the festival,” Marshall said. “Except for cherries sold at the festival, locals rarely get a taste of Glacier Fresh cherries because 100 percent of the annual harvest is drop-shipped throughout the world.”
At the annual Cherry Pit Spitting contest, held on Saturday, the three victors of the kids’ contest were: first place, Brody Rawson; second place, TJ Burland; and third place, Carter Rawson.
The Rawson brothers, along with their mother, Nicole Rawson, are from San Diego, California. “Every year we spend a few weeks at the Cromwell Orchard at Finley Point,” said Rawson. “We are picking and vacationing.”
“We have a You-Pick-It program,” stated Camille Cromwell, of Cromwell Orchard. In addition to selling cherries at the Farmer’s Market, Cromwell explained that she allows locals and tourists to visit her orchard, and to pay for what they pick.
“You can also eat while you pick,” joked Rawson.
According to Cromwell, her all natural, no-pesticide cherries warrant a look from those who love Montana’s cherries.
In addition to the cherries produced, the Cromwell Orchard draws in the industrious, hard-working Rawson boys. These young men actively participate in the festival and work with Cromwell.
Another tourist, Boyd Borden, enjoyed the Cherry Festival for the first time this year. Hailing from Concord, California, he was thrilled with all that Polson offered, and was particularly taken with the variety of vendors at the festival.
“I like all of the crafts people that are available,” Borden said. “I bought Christmas gifts from some of the vendors. And I bought two pounds of cherries as a gift for friends that we are visiting.”
Borden is a retired real estate professional who said he spends about a month in Polson each year, but has always missed the Cherry Festival.
“We love to walk through town to see how things have changed since the previous year,” Borden said.
At every turn, the 2016 Polson Main Street Cherry Festival allowed visitors and locals to celebrate the harvest, and to discover a community rich in diversity and depth.