View Rates Share Cherry Industry Most of Michigan's sweet cherry production is concentrated in the Traverse City area. Many of the golden sweet varieties are made into maraschino cherries. But in July and early August, the countryside around Traverse City is dotted with stands, markets and u-pick signs offering cartons of sweet, dark cherries. And sometimes the cherries soak in the ice cold water to keep them fresh. Appreciation of the cherry has a long history. In 1924, the Traverse City area held a spring ceremony known as the "Blessing of the Blossoms" to celebrate the cherry and the region's affinity for it. The event eventually became the National Cherry Festival held in Traverse City each July. Watch the Video Restaurants in Traverse City find dozens of ways to use cherries. The dried cherry in particular has achieved tremendous popularity in salads, baked goods, and pork and chicken dishes. For beef lovers watching their weight, a Leelanau County butcher has used them to create a low-fat hamburger/cherry mix that's popular in restaurants and cafés all over town. You will taste cherries at gourmet restaurants and small coffee shops and breakfast and lunch spots. National Cherry Festival Read More Ideas for a Wine & Blossom Tour Read More When & Where Can I See the Blossoms? Read More Restaurants Read More Stay in Traverse City Plan Your Trip All Lodging Hotels & Motels Cabins & Cottages Condos Bed & Breakfasts Campgrounds & RV Resorts Packages Fab Fall Packages Checkin Date Checkout Date View Rates © 2021 Traverse City Tourism 101 West Grandview Parkway, Traverse City, MI 49684 T: 231-947-1120 or 1-800-872-8377 info@TraverseCity.com Get Your Visitors Guide Subscribe to our E-Newsletter About Traverse City Tourism Media Privacy Policy Sitemap Members Login Translate English Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bengali Bulgarian Catalan Chinese - Simplified Chinese - Traditional Croatian Czech Danish Dutch Esperanto Estonian Fillipino Finnish Fran�ais Galician Georgian Deutsch Greek Gujarati Haitian - Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italiano Japanese Kannada Korean Latin Latvia Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Espa�ol Swahili Swedish Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukranian Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish Cookies are used for measurement, ads and optimization. By continuing to use our site you agree to our privacy policy.