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00:00Welcome to it. It's Clay from the All New Morning Rollout. I want to five on the bounce.
00:04Every good Michigander knows that Traverse City is the promised land, right? I mean,
00:09it is where it happens. And Traverse City is the Cherry Festival. And there's so much going on. But
00:16I don't think everyone knows that it's the hundredth year of the Cherry Festival. And
00:21we're lucky we've got the executive director of the Cherry Festival, Kat, in the studio today. Hi.
00:26Hi. Thank you for making your trip down here. Of course, from the cherry capital of the world,
00:30or as you call it, the promised land. I mean, I love that. It is the promised land of Michigan.
00:35Everyone that grew up in Michigan knows that when you're going to Traverse City, it was for
00:38something special. It wasn't just like, oh, let's kill some time. No, you're going there because
00:42it's a great place to be. I love that. And you may have noticed we have some royalty with us
00:48as well.
00:49It's the National Cherry Festival Queen. Queen Ainsley is in the studio with us.
00:55Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
00:59How does it feel to be called Queen? That's my first question.
01:01You know, it feels a little bit strange, but you know, it's growing on me and
01:05wearing the crown and the sash. At first, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so different. But now,
01:10you know, it's part of the wardrobe. It looks natural. You wear it well.
01:12Thank you. You wear it well. Do you have the power to make any other
01:16anointments? Can I be like Duke or something? Can I just any title?
01:20You know, to me, most important is if you just eat lots and lots of cherries.
01:23That makes a Cherry Queen's heart full. That is fair. Okay. If you're wondering about the
01:28Cherry Festival and you've never been July 4th through the 11th this year, and just,
01:34I really, it comes down to what doesn't happen because there's races, there's concerts, there's
01:42parades. Kat, I mean, what is your personal favorite part of the Cherry Festival?
01:47Ooh, that's a good question. My personal favorite is probably our parades. Our community
01:51royale on Thursday night, our cherry royale on Saturday morning. Those are rolling storybooks of
01:56our community showcasing everything that Traverse City has to offer, not just cherries. It's an
02:01incredible event, but we have over 150 events in those eight days. 90% are free to the public. So
02:09many things are going on from sand sculpture contests on the beach to our pit spit and pie eating and
02:15more. You have the larger events like the air show and the parades and the festival of races.
02:20You can run a half marathon in an orchard. I don't know where else you can do that. Yeah. But
02:25there's
02:25some incredible events all the way down to pit spitting and pie eating. So first timers,
02:30let's say someone's never gone and I want answers from both of you. What's a must see? I mean,
02:36the thing, if you're going to go up, you've got to see this. Okay. Queen Ainsley,
02:40what's your pick? Oh, okay. This is hard. Honestly, I would just say the open space,
02:46just going. So when you're at National Cherry Festival, being in that open space environment
02:50and, you know, walking through, seeing the farmer's market. And I think you go to Traverse City,
02:54you see that community. We welcome you with open arms and those hugs and you just see the little
03:00kids who, you know, are eating cherries for the first time. They might, you know, have cherry pie all
03:04over their face, but they are so happy. And just seeing those family memories and just being in
03:10that moment, I think is truly the cherry on top. Okay. All right. Okay. I do love that. And if
03:15you're
03:15going to the open space, you have to have a cherry pie flurry. Oh yes. In our ice cream tent,
03:19we take
03:19an entire slice. Can we say that slower, please? Cherry pie flurry. Oh my gosh. Yes, please. So it is
03:28an entire
03:29slice of the signature Grand Traverse cherry crumb pie, which we brought you one. An entire slice
03:35of that is put into a cup filled with vanilla ice cream and put into flurry machine. It is the
03:41most
03:42magical thing and you can only get it at the National Cherry Festival over those eight days. This is why
03:47we
03:47asked that question. This is why we asked that question. Because now somebody that's going for the
03:50first time is going to be hunting the cherry pie flurry. The cherry pie flurry is the thing. There is
03:56cherry frozen lemonade. There are cherry margaritas. There is cherry cheese, cherry jerky. You couldn't
04:03go on for days of the cherry products you can taste. But another must see, I'm going to go back
04:09to the
04:09parades for a minute, is our parade. Thursday night, we are going to have some nostalgia back in downtown
04:16Traverse City that hasn't been there in a long time. And that is the bed races.
04:21I remember going to the bed races as a kid. So we're bringing them back, both the milk cart and
04:26boat regatta where you race around the buoy in Grand Traverse Bay and the bed races. So Thursday night
04:31is not going to be a night to be missed on Front Street in downtown Traverse City. We'll have the
04:35bed
04:35races, the cherry kids fun run where the kids are running down the road. And then an hour later,
04:42we're going to have a parade and be able to celebrate that and watch all with all the locals,
04:47get your chairs out, put them on the sidewalk, watch the parade, purchase a popsicle from one
04:53of the kids that's rolling by with their cooler, selling the popsicles, making their money for summer.
04:58That is Americana at its best hometown nostalgia right there. I'm glad you said this because a lot
05:04of people don't understand if you've not been to Traverse City for a long time, it's a big city now.
05:10It is still has this real quaint, small town charm. And it's always had that. And I feel like that's
05:19a lot of the reason that people love to go to Traverse City because it's got everything you need.
05:22But you can also walk on a like a downtown shop front and see unique little stores, magic shops,
05:31stuff like that. It's great. I think that's something I mean, Ainsley was raised in Traverse
05:35City. I was raised in Traverse City. So we are both native to the area and absolutely love it.
05:40I can't walk anywhere where I don't know someone or run into someone that I know. And it's great.
05:44It's like old home week every day. And I don't think that happens everywhere. And we welcome our
05:49visitors and say, congratulations, you're now family. Welcome. And a lot of our volunteers come
05:55and just spend that week with us. They've come and visited and enjoyed it so much that then they sign
05:59up to volunteer and they come back year after year. Okay. All right. So we've talked a lot about
06:04what's going on. One of the major reasons that that I really want to talk to you is because
06:09you have great lineup every year, you know, acts, concerts, and we talk about small town.
06:15These aren't small town concerts. These are big city concerts. And this year we have some tickets
06:20we're going to give away Bow Wow and Soulja Boy. Like for real, this is such a great show. I
06:26love this.
06:27We are excited to have them. I think we always go for an eclectic lineup, something for everyone. Our
06:32Pepsi Bayside music stage is definitely going to be hopping this year, all eight nights. And we're
06:39excited to have them as one of those. Now, personally, I know, and I don't know what kind of music
06:44you
06:45listen to, but there is a little something for everybody. Ainsley, what's the show you're dying to
06:49go to that's been announced so far? Because I think there's still surprises coming, right?
06:53Oh, there are. Hey, we always have them up our sleeve. You never know what's going to happen.
06:57I will say I'm more of a country girl. So I feel like Justin Moore, I'm pretty excited for.
07:01Yeah. But I really do think, you know, Soulja Boy is going to give us a good performance. So
07:05I'm ready to be up on my feet clapping and cheering and dancing along. It's going to be good. And
07:10can,
07:10I don't know, are there still Bayside music passes left? I know there's limited amounts of those.
07:15There are. So we do, they're very limited, but yes, we do have some left. Explain what this is,
07:20because this is not only, it's a great value, but it's a phenomenal idea too.
07:24So it's something we've done years ago and we put them on sale before we announce any shows,
07:29even the first one. And it's $300 for a GA ticket to all eight nights.
07:35Every single one of them. Every single one of them.
07:36That's crazy. It is the greatest value, the greatest way to see all the shows.
07:41Even if you're only going to go to probably, I would say four or five shows, you've probably
07:45already made your value. Yeah.
07:46Even before you get to the eighth show easily. So a lot of fun. There are still available at
07:51cherryfestival.org. You can still get the Bayside passes as of right now. There are still a few left
07:56and we limit it to only a hundred. Okay. And I just want to put this out there. If you
08:00want to win
08:01tickets to the Bow Wow and Soulja Boy show, comment on the video below any cherry related comment you
08:07want. We'll leave it up to you. Keep it clean. But any comment you want, we'll enter it and we'll
08:11grab
08:12somebody at random and grab them tickets as well. Um, the cherry festival queen. Yes.
08:17This is a unique job, right? It is. Have you ever done anything like this before?
08:21You know, I don't think I have, you know, wearing this crown is probably not a normal thing for most,
08:26for most young women, but it's a job that I get to do with honor.
08:29You travel all around, you represent the festival. I do.
08:33What is the most memorable, I'll put memorable thing that's happened so far in your reign as
08:39queen? You know, I would have to say any interaction with the little kiddos. I'll never forget when I
08:45was crowned queen, I had someone text me and they said, you know, you're now the queen that some little
08:51girl is looking up to. And I remember going as a little girl and finding the queen in her court
08:56and
08:56in my phone, I have all the photos with me and the queen, you know, growing up. And to know
09:01that I
09:02am that role model for those little girls. And I mean, you just see them in their tiaras and they'll
09:06do their princess twirls for you. We have a wonderful event at the princess tea where
09:11prince and princesses can come meet the queen, her court. And there's not many opportunities for,
09:17you know, little girls, little boys to have that magical moment.
09:21Did we mention there's a little something for like everybody at the cherry festival?
09:24This is just more thing. And can we give some history here? We learned earlier,
09:28your mom was also a cherry festival queen? She was in 1991. So that's pretty special.
09:35Way back in the before times of 1991. Your mom is so mad at you right now, by the way.
09:40Sorry, mom. I know. I'm going to have to call Mitzi later and be like, I'm so sorry.
09:45So did that inspire you to try and do the same or? So, you know, honestly, every single year looks
09:52different for the queen. Our industry is in different shapes, you know, festivals,
09:55it changes throughout. So my mom's reign when she was, you know, 1991 is completely different to me
10:01now. But I think there are still true and true moments of the cherry queen. And that is, you know,
10:06represent the industry, represent the festival, proudly represent the community that I was born
10:11and raised in. So as a little girl, she would show me her sash. I would talk to her about,
10:16you know,
10:16the pins, the places that she met. And so I definitely think that inspired me, but she never was,
10:21you know, like Ainsley, I expect you to do this. She just said, you know, this is an open door.
10:26It's a wonderful program. It's a $10,000 scholarship program that has helped me in my academics. And so
10:32she was my number one supporter through and through. You're actually taking applications for
10:36next year's cherry. We are currently, right? Yes. Yep. Women 19 to 25 in the state of Michigan,
10:43you can apply. They're due May 11th. I, you know, never thought that I would be in this,
10:48you know, chair right now. So you never know what can happen when you hit that submit button,
10:52but I highly encourage women to, to apply. All right. Well, there's, there's more going on
10:57than we could ever cover in the time that we have to sit down. But if somebody is looking to
11:01find all
11:02the information in one little neat and tidy place, where would they go? So cherryfestival.org has that
11:07full schedule of events to go ahead and plan your visit. And we also recommend heading over to
11:12traversecity.com to get your hotels booked. That is a very key ingredient as we are just over a
11:18hundred days out from the national cherry festival. And it is time to get that planned and start
11:23looking at what you'd like to do over those eight days of fun. Cause the city kind of comes alive.
11:27I mean, not just that cherry festival area, but I mean, even everything around the city is just
11:33bumping. I mean, there's people everywhere and it's, it's such a cool vibe when you're there.
11:37Well, summer is the time to come to the promised land. True. Very true. Anytime,
11:41anytime coming over the summer is wonderful. We particularly love, you know, inviting people
11:46into the cherry, the cherry season, you know, that is the time when the, the trucks are coming down,
11:52the harvest is usually going on, the festivals happening, and we have an entire industry
11:56that is booming all at once. And we're excited to welcome everyone to Northern Michigan to get to
12:01experience it. So we talked about the pie. We saw a little bit of that. We've got a couple other
12:06products here. What are we, what are we looking at? This is just an example of what you can see
12:09there.
12:10There is so many fun things here. So we have our milk chocolate covered cherries. They are dried
12:15milk chocolate covered cherries from cherry based orchards. Yes, please. We've got a cherry whiskey.
12:20Yes, please. From Traverse City Whiskey Co. Uh, the ready to drink old fashioned cherry cocktail.
12:27I know. I didn't know we were having a party here today. Come on now. I didn't bring the chips,
12:32but we got cherry salsa from our friends over at Six Lugs. We've got cherry vinegar,
12:37which is wonderful in mocktails and in vinaigrettes on salad. There you go. If there is something that
12:42you can put cherries in, we're pretty sure that our incredible growers have done it. There's also
12:48cocktail cherries. And I have a particular piece that I love with the cherry cocktail cherries here,
12:53cherry cocktail cherries. Um, I like to use them on ice cream. So as an ice cream sauce,
12:58because this actually doesn't have alcohol in it. So these are great mixed in your old fashions,
13:02but also just as a topping on ice cream, it is delightful. That's so good. Okay. Before I let you
13:09guys go, because I know you have a lot of things to do. I want one secret thing about the
13:14cherry
13:14festival that you feel like maybe flies under the radar that people should know about. I'm putting you
13:20on the spot on this. Okay. I know mine. Would you know your secret thing that maybe,
13:23maybe no one else knows, but it's like a, a local. Yes. Okay. Maybe you go. It's a,
13:29if you know, you know, it's a local, you know, you know thing. So we have something at the cherry
13:34festival that is a, I wouldn't say it's a hidden secret, but unless you're local, you probably don't
13:38know. Um, we have $2 ice cream cones. You can get an ice cream cone for $2 at our ice
13:44cream tent
13:45in the open space park. The price will never increase. The whole goal is that a family
13:51can go and have a sweet treat for a reasonable price at a festival and sprinkles are always free.
13:57So this is the secret. It is on the menu. It is something you'll see, but while other prices
14:02sometimes have to increase our cherry pie flurry, our cherry sundaes, things like that,
14:06we have vowed that the ice cream cone, vanilla or chocolate or a swirl with sprinkles is always $2.
14:11I love it. Oh my gosh. Okay. Maybe I need to like check that out. Hello. My sweet tooth is
14:17running right
14:17now. Okay. I don't know if this is necessarily like a secret, but I would just say, I don't think
14:22people realize the amount of behind the scenes work goes into the festival with all of the volunteers.
14:27I mean, you walk in and everyone's wearing their ambassador t-shirts and it really does make a
14:32community to make this festival run. And I think that is something that is truly special is you feel
14:37the love right off the get go. Everyone is welcoming. You're able, you know, to have, we have a map
14:42and
14:42you can pin your location. And at the end of festival, I mean, there are just pins covering
14:47the complete map and it's just so fabulous to see that community outreach. Anytime you have an event,
14:53especially one that's as good as the cherry festival, you know, it's happening because of
14:59great people that come together to make that happen. And we get to talk to some of those people
15:04today. It's the community. And I think Ainsley is correct. We sometimes forget and take for granted
15:08how incredible our community is with the red carpet that they roll out. It is 2,800 volunteers. It is
15:1445,000 man hours to make all that happen. Things like the ice cream tent don't run themselves.
15:19I'm not in there. Ainsley's not in there. We have incredible event directors and volunteers who are in
15:25there, you know, slinging ice cream all day to make these events happen and make sure they can remain
15:31free for community and locals to come and enjoy alike. That's great. One last time before I let you go,
15:37tickets, information, all that good stuff. Where do they go?
15:39Oh, it is cherryfestival.org for that full schedule of events, race registrations,
15:43and your concert tickets. Thank you so much, Your Highness.
15:45Oh, thank you. We really appreciate the time that both of you guys spend.
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