July 19, 1928 marks the date of the first Cherry Festival held in July. Before that, a festival known as “the Blessing of the Blossoms” was held in May.
Brooks Vanderbush is author of the book The National Cherry Festival in Traverse City: Blessing of the Blossoms.
“People were celebrating the fact that the cherry blossoms were in bloom," Vanderbush says. "They were having some picnics, competitions. It was just a normal little community festival.”
Local rectors and priests would go out and bless the crops for the coming season. There was even a two-story tower built briefly for the event near Center Road, so they could bless all the blossoms on Old Mission Peninsula at once.
After two years the festival switched to its new time slot in July. At the time of the switch, the festival was run by Jay P. Smith, the editor of the Record Eagle. He reasoned that more families could come and visit when school was out for the summer holiday.
“Getting people up here, building Traverse City, making this a place that’s a destination ... was a really big part of it," Vanderbush says.
Over the years the festival has moved from late July into early July, so it is now held before Michigan cherries are in season. Vanderbush says the local farmers don’t mind.
“The only complaint that you really hear [is] ... ‘you know I kind of wish it was a little later so that my crop could be involved,'" Vanderbush says. "But then on the other hand, they would be incredibly busy as well, harvesting that crop.”
After nearly nine decades it is no longer just a local community event. This year’s festival attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the globe to come and celebrate the fruit.