This is the
orchard at the end of our driveway yesterday, after a rainstorm moved through.
The cherries are ripening almost a month early this year. It’s
already cherry season, and that means when it rains, these little helicopters come
out. The sugar in the cherries will draw the moisture of the rain through the
skin into the cherry, and it will keep drawing in moisture until the cherry
bursts. So when it rains in cherry season, these little helicopters come out to
dry off the orchards.
Fun fact: even though the cherries aren’t usually ripe until
the last week of July or first week of August, our annual cherry festival is
always held the third weekend of July. Why? “Because we’ve always had it that
weekend. We can’t have it the last weekend of July because that’s the car show
and we can’t have it the first weekend of August because that’s the Good Old
Days festival.”
So yes, that means that most years, cherries for the cherry
festival are brought in from Washington, where the crop is earlier, while the
local cherries are usually a week or two away from being ripe. Why not have the
cherry festival during the time the local cherries are usually ripe? Because “it’s
always on the third weekend of July,” and that’s that. But this year, instead
of being too early for the local crop, it looks like it will be too late. The
first cherry stands are already open.
