Festival celebrates Flathead’s cherry crop
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Tucked away behind a Main Street sidewalk, a bit off the beaten path, young entrepreneur Lexie Gauthier and her friend Anna Vert enticed thirsty Cherry Festival visitors to buy their lemonade. The homemade stand was somewhat shaded by an umbrella turned inside-out by Saturday’s wind gusts.
The breezes didn’t deter crowds that flocked to downtown Polson Saturday and Sunday to celebrate the Flathead Cherry. In fact, winds whipped away wildfire smoke that had settled in the valley and revealed blue skies and a welcome view of the Mission Mountains.
Becky Tunstall traveled from Richmond, Virginia to attend the festival, and would return with a string of hand-carved wooden elephants for her young grandson. Her husband, she said, makes a loud elephant sound to which her grandson always replies, “’No elephants here, grandpa,’” Tunstall said. “Well, now there will be elephants.”
The crafts are precisely why Tunstall loves the festival, as does her friend Lena Rea of Big Arm.
“I love to see the new, creative stuff they have here,” Rea said. “There’s so many talented people, and the event is very well organized. It’s just pleasant to come to.”
Flathead cherries were available from a handful of orchards, and by 2 p.m. the ladies of the Montechato Club had only one cherry pie left to sell — although they had hidden away 10 pies to sell to Sunday’s crowd.
Cherry contests drew people to watch pie eating, stem tying and pit spitting events. Carson Emerson, 5, won in the 7-and-under pit-spitting contest, flinging his pit 11 feet. For his effort, he took home gift certificates to Showboat Cinemas, Cove Deli and Polson Hallmark.
