National Cherry Festival
TRAVERSE CITY -- Lija Ditmar and her niece Bethany Giss were captivated by a recent showing of "Cherryland," a historical film about the National Cherry Festival that's showing all week at the State Theatre.
"I wish I could carry a placard around so everyone would come and see it," Ditmar said.
"Cherryland" was written, produced and directed by William Jamerson in 1995, but this is the first year it has been shown as part of festival activities. The State Theatre is showing the 45-minute film free each day of the festival at 4 p.m.
"The State Theatre wanted to promote the history of the festival, so when they found out about my film, they contacted me," Jamerson said, noting that the pairing of the historical film and historical theater is a nice combination.
"It is a nice tribute to Traverse City's past," he said.
Jamerson was inspired to make the film after discovering old footage of the festival from the 1920s. He said beautiful floats and the queen and her court dressed like angels were appealing images. But when he took a deeper look into the story, he discovered the Cherry Festival really is a tale of survival.
"Traverse City had a Madison Avenue instinct. It was a town down on its luck. The lumber companies, which was the main industry of the time, went out of business, so now what do you do?" Jamerson said.
The lumber companies were all but gone during the early years of the 20th century, so that left just the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane and cherry farms as the major employers. Town leaders decided to play to its strength, promoting the cherry business through radio, key connections to political leaders, and various other methods to create excitement about the town, Jamerson said.
"The festival made it a destination and it propelled its growth," Jamerson said. "To understand why Traverse City is a regular commercial travel center is to understand that it is because of the festival and the efforts of promoters over the last 80 years."
Giss was impressed by the town's efforts in promoting cherries as an industry and in making them a more popular food item.
"It really shows the ingenuity of the town, and it's persistence," she said.
Ditmar said she'd like to see a sequel, continuing from the 1960s, when Jamerson's film left off, until the present day.
A broader appeal of "Cherryland" is the connections to viewer's past experiences with festivals in general.
"Every town has a festival. Everyone has childhood memories about a festival," Jamerson said.
Ditmar said she remembers when Giss and her brother would visit during Cherry Festival when they were younger and participate in staple events and attend parades.
"I was really glad I had the chance to come back during Cherry Festival because it brings back great memories," Giss said.
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