You could have seen royalty among the blossoms on Monday as the National Cherry Queen greeted Door County cherry growers during her media tour through Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Tessa Nico holds the title and wears the crown for the National Cherry Festival, which takes place annually in Traverse City, Michigan. After traveling across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger, Nico and her traveling party headed to Door County to see where 95 percent of all tart cherries grown in Wisconsin are produced. They were greeted by Miss Door County Faith Blackley, State Senator André Jacque, and representatives from Soren’s Valhalla Orchard, Seaquist Orchards, Lautenbach’s Orchard Country, Country Ovens, and Schartner’s Farm Market, who compared notes on the early part of the season.
Seaquist told the crowd that it seems like things have rebounded from an awkward time last season, where a wet spring was followed by a bone-dry summer, which causes stress on the trees.
Nico said the biggest thing she learned during her brief trip to Door County was how different the operations run, right down to the soil where the cherry trees are planted.
As part of the appearance, the two groups shared the fruits of the growers’ labor: cherry juice, wine, pies, and other baked goods and snacks.
