Buses roll Saturday for blossom-gazing.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS are nearing full bloom
around the county, like the ones shown in an
orchard off Lincoln Road Tuesday afternoon.

Blossoms may take on a more pragmatic role at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station, but director Nikki Rothwell nonetheless is volunteering to be a tour guide Saturday at the Leelanau Cherry Blossom Tour.

Rothwell was called to fill a request from a Virginia company that plans to bring a bus with 40-some blossom gazers to Leelanau County for the tour, which is being resurrected by local bloom enthusiasts after a decades-long hiatus.

Cherry blossoms seem right up the tour company’s niche.

“They’ve even been on a peanut tour. She said if you can make peanuts interesting, cherries should be easy,” said Rothwell.

Buses provided by the Bay Area Transportation Authority will begin leaving the Connie Binsfeld Building in Lake Leelanau at 11 a.m., with the last bus scheduled to depart at 2 p.m. There will be no charge for any of the activities offered by the tour, including grilled cherry brats and those famous Cherry Republic cherry-chocolate cookies while supplies last.

The one-hour bus tour will include stops at St. Wenceslaus Church, which features stunning views across the countryside, and Cherry Bay Orchards, owned by Bob and Don Gregory. Participants can exit one bus at the stops, and pick up the next bus along the route in about 20 minutes.

Maps stating the importance of the cherry industry to Leelanau County and the names of farm families along the tour route who have maintained cherry orchards in most cases for decades will be offered free at the Binsfeld Center. One option: Pick up a map, and take the tour in your own vehicle.

Factors beyond the control of organizers appear to be setting up nicely for the regenerated blossom tour. The National Weather Service as of yesterday was predicting mostly sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-50s.

And even the blossoms seem to be cooperating, according to Rothwell.

Sweet cherries should be at or near peak blossom by Saturday, and even some tarts might be showing touches of white, Rothwell believes.

She keeps charts to follow the progress of cherry varieties through bloom - think of blossoms as a biological phase necessary for pollination rather than simply a beautiful hillside - that indicate sightseers will have plenty to gaze at.

Napoleon sweets are now at 100 percent bloom at the research station, located in Bingham Township a few miles south of the blossom tour headquarters. Hedelsingen varieties are at 80 percent, and even Golds, termed a “light sweet’ variety, are at first bloom. Quick to follow: popular Montmorency and Balaton varieties.

The bulk of the Leelanau County cherry crop appears to have escaped one of its most vulnerable stages with little frost damage, Rothwell said, while buds in southern Michigan and Washington were nipped by frosty temperatures.

“We‘re really happy right now,” said Rothwell.

Cherry blossoms were starting to pop this week
at an orchard on top of Herman Road in Suttons
Bay Township.

While tart cherry blossoms won’t be out in mass by Saturday, Rothwell said Leelanau’s sweet cherry sites should be primed for the tour. Sweets are considered more vulnerable to the weather than tarts, and consequently are only grown on prime orchard land.

Leelanau County arguably has more prime cherry sites than any other place in the United States, Rothwell believes. That adds up to a lot of sweet cherries.

“I think we’ll be at some stage of bloom for all sweet cherries, and tarts (at the research station) will start to open by the weekend,” she said.

Don Gregory said his family and farm operation are preparing for visitors, who will be treated to a stop in an orchard in full bloom. He or his brother, Bob, will be available to answer questions about the cherry industry.

And there may be props. “I am tentatively planning to put a shaker out wherever we’re at,” he said.

But most of the hard work for the cherry blossom tour was done years ago, when Leelanau’s hundreds of orchards were planted. They should be show-ready by Saturday.

“We might even see some white on the tarts. We always say Mother’s Day is a good time for bloom,” he said.

Sponsors for the tour include the Leelanau Enterprise, Leelanau Conservation District and Leelanau Conservancy.