A Summer to Remember

Traverse City locals and visitors experienced a summer without the Cherry Festival for the first time since World War II.

by MALLORY SWOPE content editor

Photo: M. Swope

The National Cherry Festival has drawn attention from all over the country throughout the years, causing the disappointment to spread just as far when the news of the cancellation came. From here in Traverse City all the way down to Texas, teenagers shared their experiences and reactions from the Cherry Festival’s cancellation.

Maisie Smith ‘22 has enjoyed the festivities of Cherry Festival for the past several years and looks forward to the event every year. “I was really sad [when Cherry Festival was canceled] because it is always so much fun, but I understood why they had to,” Smith stated. She noticed a void in her summer experience that directly correlated with the cancelation of the festival when she couldn’t meet up with her friends at the midway or volunteer at the kids tent like she has in previous years.

Upon relocating to Texas at the end of her eighth grade year, former TCAPS student Jessica Sarin faced severe feelings of homesickness knowing she would be missing out on all of her favorite things about Traverse City summers. Even after setting roots in Texas and finding things to love there, Sarin still gets an itch to come back to Traverse City every summer for the Cherry Festival. “There’s just so many things I love about it,” Sarin explained, “I love the rides at the Midway [and I also] love how the music is loud no matter where you go.” Up until this summer, Sarin had been able to make a trip back to Traverse City right around the week of Cherry Festival.“I wanted to cry when I found out there wasn’t going to be a Cherry Festival this year,” she said, “I would literally buy a plane ticket to TC at the drop of a hat if it meant I could go to the midway.”

It’s July 2019. The night sky lights up from the colorful LED bulbs that reflect off of carnival rides as the sounds of screaming and laughing fill the voids of silence. There are fireworks in the background, their lights cascading across the horizon of the water. There are people gathering at the food courts with their friends and family, the smells traveling with the wind. People come from all over just for this week. The streets of Traverse City are full. The hotels of Traverse City are full. The heart of Traverse City is full. The sorrow that comes at the end of the week is soon replaced with the anticipation and excitement building for the next year. But the thrill is for nothing. Fast forward to July 2020 and the streets are full, but the atmosphere is different. There are no smells of fried food wafting through the streets. There are no lights shining. There is no laughter. For the first time since World War II, there is no National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. When the news came of COVID-19 reaching the United States, there was little panic because it still didn’t seem real. When the news came of the first case of COVID-19 in Michigan, there still didn’t appear to be much panic because the state is so big - what’s one positive case? Then it was 10, then 100, then into the thousands, then tens of thousands, and soon every county in Michigan was unable to escape the positive cases popping up. In order to combat panic, the governor instated a mandatory quarantine that only allowed people to leave their houses to go grocery shopping or work if they had “essential” jobs. It was only for three weeks though. That’s it. After that, life would resume to normal, COVID would be a thing of the past, and it would all be just in time for the best parts of summer: going to the beach, making memories with friends, hanging out around the campfire roasting marshmallows, and most of all, Cherry Festival. This excitement lasted until April 16, when the news made headlines all over the state: National Cherry Festival Canceled due to Coronavirus. The decision wasn’t made lightly though. National Cherry Festival Special Programs Director Bailey Judson observed the process from the beginning, noting that the choice was made after considering “health and safety above everything else. . . looking at how we could do this event and keep the community, staff, volunteers and guests safe.” The committee came to the conclusion that at the end of the day, the festival attracts far too much attention to possibly ensure the highest degree of security for attendees’ well-being. “In working with local and state officials, it became clear that an event bringing in over 500,000 [people] was not going to be feasible,” Judson explained. While the choice was made in everybody’s best interest, not everything that resulted from it was beneficial. In direct correlation to the cancelation of the Cherry Festival, tourism rates dipped during typically peak times, leading to a domino effect seen across town. Some hotels were able to maintain full rooms, but many struggled to turn on the No Vacancy signs. Restaurants maintained business, though many missed the marks set in previous years. However, Judson added that “this was due to the pandemic as well; while the festival had an impact, it was not the entire impact.” Ultimately, Traverse City visitors and locals alike will have to wait until 2021 for the Cherry Festival. This subsequently raises the question of if there will be an event in 2021 and what it will look like if there is. Planning for each year’s event takes around a year to complete, so talk of what a potentially post-COVID Cherry Festival might look like is already in the works. Judson noted that despite the uncertainty of the times right now, the outlook is hopeful for next year. The committee has faced numerous obstacles in the short time they’ve been planning this year, as “a lot of it is the unknown,” Judson said. “It is difficult to plan an event when we don’t know how the world will look at that time.” Undeterred by the challenges, the board is looking at ways to keep their staff, volunteers, and guests safe all the while still having an unforgettable experience. //