The tragic end of the annual International Cherry Spit competition at the shuttered Tree-mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire was already taking the bloom off the season, but now comes additional sad news from the agricultural community here in Berrien County.
Organizers of the annual Eau Claire Cherry Festival 4th of July Celebration say that the event will be sidelined this summer, much like many other traditional happenings in Michigan’s Great Southwest and beyond.
This morning they posted on their Facebook page the news of the event’s demise:
Keeping our community safe with social distancing this year, we sadly announce we will be taking this year off. There won’t be a Cherry Festival 4th of July Celebration 2020.
With that being said our festival is made totally of donations by local businesses and community members, we don’t feel it’s a time to ask for donations due to the economic hardships the Covid-19 Pandemic has caused. Please support local businesses and each other the best you can. (The donations we have received this year will be saved for next year.)
We will be thinking of you all during these months of healing and prepare to have a great celebration in 2021.
Enjoy your family. Please feel free to share what you have been up to during the lockdown. We are all in this together.
The cherry image accompanying this story on Moody on the Market is courtesy of the Eau Claire Cherry Festival Committee.
