LEELANAU COUNTY — The National Cherry Festival held a Junior Royalty Program Cherry Education Day hosted at Alpers Farm in Leelanau County.
The Junior Royals are students from 25 different northern Michigan elementary schools. The goal of the education day is to teach the junior royals about the cherry industry and how cherries grow on the farm and end up in the products we love. There were different activities from writing thank you cards to cherry farmers to trying different cherry treats.
Jessia Alpers the National Cherry Festival, Cherry Industry Liaison says she wants kids to know the hard work behind farming.
“We have all the junior royalty out to my family’s orchard, where we’re going to help educate the kids. Expose them to the orchards, because as it happens, a lot of the kids live in the area, but they may not have actually been out on a farm. And it’s important for the children to understand what it takes to grow cherries in the industry.”
Students were also allowed to safely experience agriculture by climbing up the cherry shaker.
