Don't count calories at Cherry Fest

2012 National Cherry Festival

Related Photos

From left, Ryleen Frusti, 12, Katarina Fenton, 12, and Kearsten Frusti, 14, share an elephant ear Wednesday at the National Cherry Festival. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

July 12, 2012

Don't count calories at Cherry Fest

BY JAMES RUSSELL jrussell@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Fri Jul 13, 2012, 07:24 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — The standard food groups change as soon as you walk through the Open Space gates.

Cherry Festival fare comes in four other varieties: fried, cherry-flavored, sugary, or all of the above.

Needless to say, it's not a good place for dieters.

"I was on Weight Watchers until yesterday," said Cherie Gill, of Chase, as she shared a funnel cake with her sister, Kim Idyle, Shelby Township. "I'm not counting any points; are you kidding me?"

The pair made the drive to the Cherry Festival on Wednesday. Like many festival-goers, food topped their agenda, though Gill admitted "she didn't tell anybody that."

They sampled a variety of products at the popular Open Space marketplace, where cherry lovers can try and purchase anything from a basic cup of cherries to more exotic cherry-flavored sauces and spreads.

Mother and son duo Sheryl and Daniel Umulis have back-to-back tents to peddle goods under their "Six Lugs" brand. Daniel created a "Wine Sloshee" mix that can turn any bottle of wine into a frozen, cherry-flavored concoction.

"You don't need a blender, you don't need to add ice. All you need is a freezer and a bottle of wine," he said.

The mix is made with sweet and tart cherries, apple and pomegranate.

"It's actually very healthy for you," he said. "I can't tell you that wine is, but the mix is healthy."

Sheryl Umulis has a line of cherry products, including a prized cherry vinaigrette dressing and a cherry-garlic spread. She said samples are the key to her business.

"For every one of my products, it sells when you get it in the mouth. You have to sample," she said. "We do approximately three to five samples per customer."

Julie and Kevin Gitchell, of Lakeland, Fla., slowly made their way down the line of tents and sampled the fare at their leisure. They already had picked up three bags of jerky on their first stop at Deering's Market, including a "cherry-beef" variety.

"It was a hard decision, so we sampled lots of different kinds," Julie said.

Still, the allure of deep-fried goodness called.

"I'm a fan of anything fried, and I think they have fried Oreos over there," she said. Calories are not a concern; Julie's pregnant so she has no qualms about giving the baby an early treat.

"I'm eating for two, so I can kind of use that excuse: 'Oh, the baby's hungry. He wants deep-fried Oreos," she joked.

Lisa Sluiter can relate.

"When I was pregnant two years ago, I came down here every day by myself and tried just about everything," the Traverse City resident said. "That was my goal, but I paid for it that winter."

Sluiter still visits every few days to get a treat with her family. Her son, Sam, 2, worked over a long sucker Wednesday afternoon.

"With a festival like this, I don't know if you really want to count calories," she said.

For Gill and Idyle, funnel cake was the dessert to a lunch of samples of cherry butter, cherry salsa, and cherry pie.

"The first thing we had was the cherry pie from Grand Traverse Pie Company. Oh my goodness, it was so good," Gill said. "That pie was so good I'm buying a small one for my husband."

"Now we're done, though," said Idyle. "I just want to go shopping now."