Low crop but big crowds for cherry season
Crowds weren’t deterred by smaller yield during farms’ busiest weekend of the year
BRENTWOOD » The traffic backup can start two miles down the road, some parking lots are already full soon after opening and those lucky to have found a spot wait outside in long lines in the hot sun waiting for admission.
No, it’s not Disneyland in the summer — it’s cherrypicking season in Brentwood.
Despite a chill that yielded a lower crop throughout the state this year, crowds made the trek from all over the Bay Area and flocked to Brentwood’s “U-Pick” farms to taste the sweet fruit that’s typically ripe between the end of April and start of June. This Memorial Day weekend was especially full of sun-hat wearing people waiting to fill their buckets full of cherries.
Cherries need about 1,200 hours of “winter chill,” when temperatures drop below 45 degrees but stay above 32 degrees. Larry Enos, owner of 5 Star Cherries at 24782 Marsh Creek Road, said the frost came in at 25 degrees Fahrenheit this year, affecting the buds, which caused a weird bloom season and a lighter crop. They sell the Lapins and Sweetheart varieties of red cherries and the white variety, Rainier.
By comparison, normally California produces about 9.5 million boxes of cherries per year; this year, it’s around 2.5 million, he said.
That also means that people are rushing to get a taste of their cherries during their “u-pick” season. On Sunday, cars lined up down the road at 9:30 a.m., an hour after the 40acre orchard opened, where cherries are sold for $3.50 per pound. Some visitors had to wait 45 minutes just to park. By approximately 1 p.m., the orchard closed for the day as it had reached capacity.
Jamie Palladino, wife of Mike Palladino of Mike’s UPick farm at 611 Payne Ave., said the farm is at 35 percent of its normal crop this year. But hearing that the crop was low means bigger crowds, as people are hoping to get a taste of the popular fruit. The orchard, which also sells the fruit at $3.50 per pound, sold out of the Rainier variety Saturday. Standing with a megaphone at the entrance of the orchard, Palladino directed the long line at the entrance into their 10-acre orchard, also letting them know they had Lapin cherries left, which are a little more tart.
On Saturday, five of the 10 rows available for picking were sold out in just four hours, she said. They’ve operated the U-Pick for three years, and said this year’s crowds were “over the top.” On Saturday alone, they used at least 2,000 bags for the cherries sold.
Memorial Day weekend is the busiest time of the year, and between 180,000 to 200,000 visitors are expected throughout the region during the entire cherry season, said Jessica Enos of 5 Star Cherries.
Erin McTigue, her wife and 3-year-old daughter Adison, came for the second consecutive year to 5 Star Cherries on Sunday. Hoping to get away from the city and be surrounded by trees, McTigue said it was a good place to go, but by 10 a.m., it already felt more crowded than the year before.
Sharon Chung, with hus-
band Ed Hsiao, of San Francisco, traveled with their sons Ian, 3, and Adam, 9, to 5 Star Cherries. Chung handed her sons Tupperware labeled with their last names as they roamed the orchards, looking for the perfect cherries.
“We’ve done this before,” Chung said with a smile.
They’ve come for three years so far, and have made it a new tradition. The family also picks peaches and apricots and has lunch in town before heading back to San Francisco.
“My favorite part is eating,” said Ian, 3, of cherry picking.
The family, who in the past have taken home 18 pounds of cherries, hope to make cherry ice cream and pie with their efforts, and give some away to co-workers and family.
“Say cherry pie!” said Hsiao as he snapped a photo of his children in front of a cherry tree.
Ally Giacinto and Alec Aivazis, both of Los Angeles, were visiting friend Jason Cohen of Sunnyvale this weekend, hoping to gather enough cherries for a pie. The trio heard about cherry picking at Mike’s U-Pick from Cohen’s co-worker and woke up early to beat some of the crowds. When asked how many pounds of cherries they hoped to gather, Cohen, holding a bucketful, said “Until we regret the amount we got.”
First-timers Nicole and Chris Peyer, of Oakland, also made the event a family friendly activity by bringing their sons Reid, 2, and Zane, 4. The two boys, with red, smeared cherry bits over their mouths from taste testing, nodded when asked if they were having fun.
The family wanted to stay local for the three-day weekend and visited because of a friend’s suggestion.
“I would have never thought about it if my friend hadn’t recommended it,” Nicole Peyer said.
Peyer did her homework before arriving, researching online which farms had u-pick available, and called ahead to see if they were open for the weekend, since she had heard they could sell out.
Another tip for getting the best crop?
“Get here early,” said Jessica Enos.
Both 5 Star Cherries and Mike’s U-Pick sell cherries for $3.50 per pound. Mike’s ran out of Lapins, Sweetheart Rainiers cherries.