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Cherry Queen Blog

Hello cherry lovers!

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Maria LaCross and I am so honored to be the 2010-2011 National Cherry Queen. I would like to tell you a little bit about myself before I update you on my first week as Queen.

I was born and raised on a cherry farm in Cedar, Michigan. LaCross Farms is a 700 acre cherry farm in the heart of Leelanau County, the state's largest cherry-growing region. My family also owns and operates a fruit processing plant, Leelanau Fruit Company, which is located in Suttons Bay. Cherry harvest and promotion have been an integral part of my life, and my family's hard work and passion for the fruit instilled in me the values that will serve me well during my reign.

I am a 2004 graduate of Glen Lake High School and a 2008 graduate of Michigan State University. I completed my student teaching last year and then traveled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates during the fall of 2009 to live with a former high school teacher and her two children. I tutored her children as well as substitute taught at the American Academy for Girls. I came home at Christmas time and was hired as a long-term substitute teacher at St. Francis High School in Traverse City. I am fortunate enough to be able to teach full time at St. Francis starting this fall. I will be teaching 9th and 10th grade English and will also be the Yearbook adviser. It will certainly be an exciting year for me!

After coronation last week, I was busy with my first few duties as Queen. I rode in the Cherry Royale Parade and presented awards to the top Cherry Idol contestants as well as the Cherry Pit Spit winners. I also presided at the drawing for the grand prizes of the NCF Pin Program where I gave away the Toyota Camry from Traverse Motors, cruise from Passageways, and TV and BluRay player from Best Buy. Congrats to all the winners and participants of those events! We also were able to view the fireworks Saturday night. In my opinion, they were the best ever!

The following day (thanks to photographer Dr. Gary Kaberle for arrangements) my parents and I gave a tour of a cherry orchard and Leelanau Fruit Company to Coast Guard Admiral Michael Parks, his family, and Coast Guard Commander Jonathan Spaner. We had a great time showing them a behind the scenes look at harvest and production and even managed to have a little cherry pit spit contest of our own!

This past weekend, my chaperone Cheri Garvin and I went to Gaylord's Alpenfest. Gaylord is such a neat town and we felt very welcomed by the crowd. We even caught a performance by the Petoskey Steel Drum Band! Congratulations to the newly crowned Alpenfest Queen, Rachel Bartow, and her court members. It was wonderful to meet you all, and thanks for the warm welcome Gaylord-- it was a great way to kick off my year!

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who came out to the 2010 National Cherry Festival and helped to make this year the best one yet. I am especially grateful to the all of the festival volunteers. Every volunteer and festival worker I encountered during the week were always working with a smile on their face and a positive attitude. It is truly amazing to see everyone coming together as a community to make a great festival, and I can't wait to see you all next year. Also, a huge thank you to everyone for your support, encouragement and kind words since I was crowned. Please keep visiting the blog to see how we are promoting the festival, the cherry industry, and the Traverse City area.

Love & Cherries,
Queen Maria
 

Posted July 10, 2010 ~ Stay tuned for blogs from our new 2010 -02011  Cherry Queen...Miss Maria LaCross.

Posted July 8, 2010 ~ Good Morning! Just two days left until our Coronation Ball. The court and I had a fantastic day yesterday and another one in store for today.

We worked it as glamor gals at the Royal Pageant of Fashion at the Park Place Dome and had fun playing in the park and at the open space with everyone. Then we had a wonderful time cheering on the Bums at the game and revving up the crowd with the YMCA and dizzy games.

Today we are headed out to Senior Bowling, practice at the Opera House, and then to top it all off- we have the Children's Parade tonight where each of us will be riding in the parade with a lucky young lady who gets to dress up and ride along!

This week has already been so amazing I cannot wait to see what the last few days have in store for us!

Stay tuned......

~Queen Angela
 

Posted July 7, 2010 ~ Lots on our agenda today...this morning the court officially begins their private interviews; where they will be meeting three of the judges that have been secretly watching them throughout the week.
 

Today is also Special Kids Day, so we will be heading over to the open space and then to F and M Park for a Cherry Town Fun Night.
 

The girls and I will also be modeling some of the latest downtown styles in a fashion show at the Park Place Hotel. But after all of that fun there is still more in store for us.
 

Tonight we are going to the Beach Bums Game where I will be throwing out the 1st pitch!
 

Also, stay tuned for updates on the rest of the week. There will be a lot more to come! You can even check out UpNorth TV at www.upnorthmedia.org on Friday for the live coverage of the Coronation Ball.
 

Have a cherry great day!

~Queen Angela
 

Posted July 6, 2010 ~ Happy Heritage Day festival goers! Yesterdays Heroes Day was a huge success with the Princess Tea and all the pretty princesses as well as our tribute to all heroes past, present and future. The pit spitting contest was also fun, personally I have improved from last years distance to 34'10!

 

Today we are off to the Pet show in the park, to see all of your goofy pets in categories like fattest cat or ugliest pup! Then we are attending Cherry Industry Day at the Hort Station to be educated on our current season and reflect on the past year. We are also looking forward to a fun night of rides at Arnolds!

 

There are also lots of other events to check out today in honor of Heritage Day...A native American Pow Wow, Old fashioned Picnic, there's event an old fashioned Pie baking contest. hope to see you out and about enjoying the festival today :)

 

~Queen Angela
 

July 5, 2010 ~ Morning!

Today we celebrate Heroes' Day at our National Cherry Festival with our second annual recognition tribute. Join us in a salute to all Heroes by the NMC Community Band. Today we are also honoring the Distinguished Senior at a Very Cherry Breakfast, then we are off to the ribbon cutting at the Cherry Connection Booth in the Open Space.

If you haven't checked out the Cherry Connection and would like to learn a little more about our prized fruit that we are celebrating this week, please do-You can also catch us at the Pit Spitting contest, where I will be trying my best to break my record from last year!

We have the Princess Tea that I am anxious to attend, to see all the beautiful royalty. We are giving away several great prizes including a ride along with me, the Queen in the Children's parade on Thursday evening!

I am also very excited to be honoring our President of the National Cherry Festival, Kay Relyea, at her Presidents party this evening. I think we can all agree that she has helped organize and plan an "Awesomely Awesome and Fun Festival! Thank you Miss Kay!
 

See you around the festival,
 

~Queen Angela
 

Posted July 4, 2010 ~ Good Morning Festival Fans, and happy July 4th! Wow, its day two of our National Cherry Festival and I cannot wait to see what we have in store for us today. Yesterday started off a fantastic week filled with fun events. You may have seen the National Cherry Queen Court and I out and about at the Blue Angels Air show, a meet and greet reception with the pilots or maybe you even caught us riding Big Wheels in the Big Wheels Race.

Today we are headed to the opening ceremonies at the Hagerty Car Show where we will be picking out our favorite selection for the "Queens Pick", the up to the Park Place for a grand viewing of the Blue Angels air show.

Be on the lookout for us....we love to stop and take pictures, answer any questions or just visit with you all!

That's all for now, be safe and enjoy your 4th of July Holiday at the Festival!
 

~Queen Angela

Posted June 28, 2010 ~ Hello Cherry Festival lovers! We are just one week away from our 84th National Cherry Festival Kick-off! We have so many great events and activities planned, be sure to check out our full schedule of events to help plan your enjoyment!

Our wonderful cherries are also getting ready for harvest. At our family farm, we plan to start cherry season as early as next week! Hopefully I will get in a few days of work on the farm in before our awesomely awesome and fun festival starts and I miss out on loading our cherries on the semi and managing our cooling pad.

To keep me busy until then, I am very excited to attend the Cherry Prince and Princess meeting where I will get to meet and greet all the kids and talk about each of their floats!

Also next week, I will be visiting a few daycares and preschools to read "Hidden Cherries," talk about festival fun, our new "Cherry Kids Club" and as always answer all of the kids cherry, farm, festival and queen questions (which is always one of my favorite parts!)

Festival will be here before we know it-and I am so excited to see all of the great activities, volunteers and visitors that it brings.

Talk to you very soon!

~Queen Angela
 

Posted June 18, 2010 ~ Greetings from the Queen,

 

Another great weekend ahead for all of us 'cherry lovers'. We are heading up to Mackinaw Island this Sunday for the Mackinaw Lilac Festival! Hope for some more wonderful Northern Michigan weather and beautiful lilacs too! Father's day on the island sounds great to me (and my dad too :)

 

Also this weekend I want to extend my best cherry wishes for all the young ladies involved in the Miss Michigan Program!

 

Although its a busy weekend, don't forget to spend some quality time with dad too. Have a wonderful Fathers Day and fantastic weekend!

 

Have a very Cherry Day, ~Queen Angela

Posted June 8, 2010 ~ Hello and good afternoon. Hope you all are having a fabulous week in Northern Michigan! This week I have been out of town traveling to round up a few future National Cherry Festival goers. I traveled to Kansas to bring my Grandma home to her summer cottage in Traverse City so she will be able to enjoy all of the wonderful events we have coming up this summer.

While I have been in Kansas, my queenly duties haven't stopped. Just the other day I was able to pick a few fresh Kansas Tart Cherries! I was so excited to find, see, and have a taste of my favorite fruit being so far from home!  I must say the Kansas Countryside has been beautiful along the way and the view got even better when I spotted that wild Cherry Tree! It was also really great to sample Tart Cherries because they are a little different than our Michigan Cherries.

I am eager to get back home and will be making the trip later today so wish us safe travels!

Hope to see you all soon, out and about enjoying Traverse City!
~Queen Angela
 

Posted June 3, 2010 ~ Our National Cherry Festival is just one short month away and we are doing lots of fun things to get ready to host an amazing series of events! The past couple weeks we really have been 'out and about' in Northern Michigan spreading the cherry word. We have definitely taken advantage of our gorgeous weather lately and on our day trips we have been able to see several of you who are also out enjoying Northern Michigan. It has been so fun to have the opportunity to see you all and talk cherries and remind you of all the fun events we have coming up! We have taken beautiful blossom pictures at several area farms, been to Fishtown, downtown Traverse City, cheering on the runners at the Bayshore Marathon, we even had the opportunity to go on a Queen Fly-Fishing adventure! All in all, we are having a fabulous time gearing up for our festival.

Next up is the Relay for Life of Grand Traverse.  Join several others to participate on June 5, 2010 at the Civic Center in Traverse City.  Unfortunately, I will be out of town this weekend so you all will have to walk in my place. My best cherry wishes, thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved this weekend!

Until next time, we will be spraying away in the Cherry Orchards to protect our precious fruit for our cherry harvest time coming up!

~Queen Angela
 

Posted May 26, 2010 ~ Very exciting weekend coming up.... I will be helping to exhibit tart cherries and tart cherry juice for the Bay Shore Marathon and Girls on the Run on Friday, May 28th from 5pm til 9pm during pre-race packet pickup, and again on Saturday the 29th in the post-race recovery area at the Central High School Track.

We are promoting cherries for post-exercise muscle recovery. Kind Orchards has put together some great products for you to try. We will be sharing free samples of Montmorency tart cherry juice, dried tart cherries, and also handing out recipe booklets and Red Recovery Routine flyers from the Cherry Marketing Institute.

Close to 5,000 runners are expected to participate in the races, so this will be a great opportunity to share current research about the potential health benefits (and great taste!) of cherries. For more information about how tart cherries can help athletes with their training and post-exercise regimens check out www.choosecherries.com.

Have a cherry great week!
~Queen Angela
 

Posted May 18, 2010 ~ Hello Cherry lovers,

I would first like to extend a very "Cherry" thank you to everyone who participated in this years NMC BBQ. We had a record turnout for the event and a gorgeous day to get out and enjoy our community! My thank you seems so small compared to all that was done, but it comes from my heart. I also loved the opportunity to do a story time and read the MI Reads book, "The Pout-Pout Fish"; as usual all of the childeren had wonderful questions for the Queen!

Coming up next is the National Cherry Queen Selection. This year we have 19 candidates running and I am very excited to spend this upcoming weekend, May 20-22 with them at the Great Wolf Lodge.  Look out in Thursday's Record Eagle for a chance to meet all the candidates.

These young ladies will participate in a series of 4 Judged Interviews, and 1 Cherry Industry Speech Presentation; where a panel of judges will assess each candidate. The National Cherry Queen Selection process is an excellent opportunity for significant personal growth, wonderful memories and experiences, and life-long friendships.

Family and friends are welcome to come and check out the announcment of the "top four candidates" at the Great Wolf Lodge on Saturday, May 22, at 11:30 a.m. in the Fallen Timbers Conference room.

Wishing all of the candidates the best of luck and lots of positive energy throughout the process!
 

Best Cherry Wishes
~Queen Angela
 

Posted May 12, 2010 - Good Morning!  All-ready for some summer weather? I don't know how much longer I can wait.... it's just a few short months until our "Awesomely Awesome and Fun" 84th National Cherry Festival!

Looking for something to do this evening? Head over to Moomer's Ice Cream for a benefit honoring long time Festival Volunteer, Art Grubb.  Art has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in January.  He's still fighting, so we are too! Join us to eat some great ice cream to raise money for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life!
 

I will also be heading over to Grand Traverse Academy tomorrow morning to spread the cherry word! I will be bring along the book "Hidden Cherries" as well as a Cherry Word Search to share with everyone!  The students are sure to be asking some great questions about being Queen; be sure to keep posted to find out a few of my favorites!
 
I am also looking forward to helping with storytime at the NMC BBQ this Sunday. Be sure to stop by for a listen at 1:00 p.m.!
 
Have a great week Cherry lovers!
~Queen Angela
 

Posted May 5, 2010 ~We have officially reached the deadline for the National Cherry Queen Application and we are very excited to have so many interested candidates to become the National Cherry Queen 2010-2011! Thank you to all the young ladies who have applied-19 in all!  I cannot wait to get to know you all through selection weekend! We are planning lots of fun activities to do to keep you busy :)

Also a quick reminder to join us tonight for the inaugural Student Art Gala.  I am very excited to see all of the wonderful pieces of "cherry" art done by talented student artists!  You can also check the Student Art Gala website to get more information about it!

Hope to see you tonight! 

Till next time,
~ Queen Angela
 

Posted April 28, 2010 - Happy Hump Day cherry lovers! Hope everyone has had an opportunity to view all of the cherry trees in bloom in the area. The past couple weeks have really been pretty mild in climate, so the beautiful blossoms have opened up even earlier than past years.

Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms won't stay in bloom long. In fact, full bloom is usually about one week after the first opening. And the blooming peak will soon be over so the blossoms will be falling from the trees. Don't miss out on all the beauty-get outside and enjoy those blossoms!

Speaking of time running out, I'll end today with a friendly reminder, there are only a few days left to get your applications in for National Cherry Queen 2010-2011. The final deadline is May 1, 2010!
 

Till next time-happy blooming!!!
~Queen Angela
 

Posted April 19, 2010 ~What a great weekend! For those of you who don't know, my younger sister Sonya has had the honor of being this years Miss Elk Rapids. She had a fantastic and fun-filled year as Queen but now it is time again to pass the crown on.

This past Saturday, she crowned the new Miss Elk Rapids 2010, Beverley Fryer. I want to extend a very 'Cherry' congratulations to Beverley on her accomplishment! Seeing Sonya's year as Queen come to an end has got me thinking about all the wonderful opportunities I have been given throughout my year as National Cherry Queen.

This program has done more for me than I could ever repay, and I have absolutely loved being an ambassador for the National Cherry Festival and Cherry Industry! Soon, I too will be passing on the role and responsibility to a new Queen.

We are still accepting National Cherry Queen applications until May1, 2010. This has already been a year full of unimaginable experiences; and all participants can look forward to making wonderful memories, personal growth, and life-long friendships.

'Till next time...
~Queen Angela Sayler

Posted April 14, 2010 - Thinking Spring...The bees are busy buzzing and the buds are about to blossom.  Yesterday was a great day because we were out in the Orchard planting baby Tart Cherry Trees! As part of my "off-duty" activities, I love spending time in the Orchards helping to prepare the next generation of our fruit trees. It will take about seven years for the trees we planted to bare fruit; but they will require a lot of work, care and maintenance until that time. It really is a great feeling to know that we are doing our part to continue the legacy of family fruit farms :)

A big thank you to Mr. Cherry for sneaking onto my blog to post for me last week.  I had a great vacation, am well rested and now it's time to get back to my "queenly duties." Earlier today, the National Cherry Festival held it's annual Spring Press Conference to unvail our upcoming 84th National Cherry Festival!  I introduced the newest "kid" event to the Festival, the Cherry Kids Club!  I also updated everyone on my school visits (and the many great kids I have met), and talked a little bit about the fast approaching deadline for the National Cherry Queen 2010-2011 application.

Until next time......keep thinking spring!
~Queen Angela

Posted April 7, 2010 - Hello Cherry Friends…It’s me, Mr. Cherry! Queen Angela is away on vacation this week in Florida (with that “other” fruit – the Orange) so I thought I’d step in and blog for her. I’m a little worried about my Cherry Blossom friends in the orchard with all this white stuff flyin’ through the air, but I know Mother Nature will take good care of them as WARMER weather is on its way!

I thought I’d take this opportunity to let you know about a new kids’ program that Queen Angela and I will be kicking off next Wednesday at the Festival’s Spring Press Conference. The Cherry Kids Club! We are so excited about this new club as this is a member only club for our littlest cherry friends…ages 0-12 years old.
 

Members will receive their own membership card (with me on the front…my personal favorite!); a personal birthday card from Queen Angela and myself; a fun activity book with lots of information on cherries and coloring pages; newsletters four times a year with Festival news, cherry information, and updates on where the National Cherry Queen and I have been! BUT…the best part about being a member is that you get to march in the Touchstone Energy Junior Royale Parade with ME! It doesn’t get any better than this! Oh yes, you also get special discounts and perks during this year’s National Cherry Festival, July 3-10, 2010! I hope to see all you little cherry lovers walking with me in the parade! To sign up for the first-ever Cherry Kids Club, click here.

Well I should go before I get caught by the Festival authorities for taking over the Queen’s blog! I have to get back to the Orchard anyway and keep my friends warm! I will see you all soon!

'Till next time…
~Mr. Cherry
 

Posted March 23, 2010 - A big cherry hug and thanks goes out to all the elementary schools who have let me come into their schools this March to celebrate Reading Month! Hope all of the students enjoyed the visits as much as I did. I had a great time reading and sharing my farm-life and Cherry Queen Experiences with you. I can tell that we are all thrilled and looking forward to the fun events we have planned for our 84th National Cherry Festival. 

As I was talking with the classes about the various kids activities the Festival offers, a few of them definitly seemed to top the list: Of course getting to see the Blue Angels during the Festival really excited them, and heard several stories about when the children last saw the Angels (or any plane for that matter).  I also talked about the "Princess Tea," where we will have a few prizes to give away; like riding along with me in the "Kids Parade." But when I mentioned the Festival offered contests all about spitting pits and eating cherry pie, their jaws dropped! I was happy to see all of the anticipation building for this years Festival, because it is sure to be another hit!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite questions from this experience..... At the end of one of my reading sessions, a young girl at the Kingsley Elementary came up to me and asked, "Miss Cherry Queen, are you rich?" I had to explain to her that since I am the National CHERRY Queen, that yes I am very rich in CHERRIES :)

That's it for today...
~Queen Angela
 

(Posted March 8, 2010) Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day and is getting to enjoy our fantastic weather as of late.

Since March is "National Reading Month", we at the National Cherry Festival are doing our best to promote and celebrate reading at all ages. I just returned from a great day at the Mancelona Elementary School where I was able to read the book, "Hidden Cherries" to several of the elementary classes. We talked about where cherries come from, my life on the fruit farm, whats it's like to be the National Cherry Queen and of course, our upcoming Festival.

I brought along with me a few of our very own Cherry Bookmarks to showcase some of the kids events at the National Cherry Festival as well as a special cherry crossword puzzle!

Thanks to everyone for being so helpful and such great attentive students.

Until next time, happy reading!
~Queen Angela

Posted March 3, 2010 - Hello Cherry Lovers! March is already here and it’s just a few short months until our "Awesomely Awesome and Fun" 84th National Cherry Festival!

Fortunately, there is a lot to keep us busy before then. I had a fantastic time celebrating February as "National Cherry Month" by participating in the Cherry Capital Winter WonderFest activities, making a guest appearance on the Farm and Garden Show, and as a sixth generation Cherry Farmer, I’ve been busy pruning away on the farm; making sure our fruit trees are in tip-top shape. The Crown of course does not accompany me on my cherry tree pruning adventures!

Next on the agenda is a National Cherry Festival Event Directors meeting where we will discuss and plan for the upcoming Festival. There are many ways that you can get involved with the National Cherry Festival, check out how you can help the Festival here. We are always looking for volunteers with fresh ideas and cherry enthusiasm!

The Festival is also accepting National Cherry Queen applications. The deadline is May 1, 2010 and is open to young ladies ages 19 to 24. The National Cherry Queen Scholarship Program will award four young ladies with scholarships to the school of their choice. For more information on the National Cherry Queen Competition, please click here.

Till next time, think CHERRIES!
~Queen Angela 
 

Posted February 23, 2010 - It's official-the National Cherry Festival is unveiling a brand new website!  I am very excited that as National Cherry Queen, I will be given the opportunity to reach out to you as an audience to let you all know what we are working on and where we are going next in the world of cherries!
 

We recently had the opportunity to be a part of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses in sunny California and man was it a great trip! We had the chance to attend over a dozen events hosted by the Tournament.  We attended events such as the Rose Bowl Game and Rose Parade, where we got to help glue a few flowers on the beautiful Rose Parade floats!  
 

Overall it was a fantastic trip and it was a great opportunity for the Festival and I to spread the 'word of cherries'.  

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Winter WonderFest activities with my pal, Mr. Cherry!  I spit a few pits and took alot of pictures with festival goers.  I also attended the Miss Heart of Michigan pageant at the Leelanau Sands Casino.  Congratulations to former National Cherry Queen, Kaley Schroeder on her wonderful accomplishment of becoming "Miss Heart of Michigan"!  I'll look forward to seeing you in the parades!

That reminds me, the National Cherry Queen applications are now available!  If you are interested in running for the National Cherry Queen 2010/2011 title, please check out our Royalty section on the website for more information! 

Till next time...think cherries!
~Queen Angela

Posted by Queen Maria LaCross