Sunday, July 21, 2013

Cherry Festival

Polson, MT
July 20, 2013

That's right...yesterday, down on



right here in downtown Polson, MT was the Flathead Cherry Festival.


It was no surprise to find lots of colorful booths with hand crafted items for sale.





The streets were pleasantly crowded with all ages of folks out enjoying a nice Saturday morning. And a few four legged kids were seen as well.












We saw homemade cherry pies and cherry tarts and displayed lots and lots of will power...no pies today!






We did have a nice visit with the little fellow in the picture below.



As it turns out, he is the youngest of 3 sons in this cherry growing family. Each son was busy with a job...this fellow's job was to offer free samples of their cherries. The cherries were in the bucket and the red bowl was for seeds and stems. He knew the names of the cherries, and said " my dad knows everything else like how much they cost." We bought 5 pounds of mixed cherries!
















 As we rounded the corner, we heard the Poppin' John...and saw the sign...Homemade Ice Cream. One scoop each...no willpower at the ice cream stand!










I love watching the people, we love home made ice cream, and it was a  good way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.



Friday morning we drove a loop which took us by Kerr Dam and out Buffalo Bridge Road and back to Irvine Flats Road where our home is parked.



 Kerr Dam is 5 miles southwest of Polson along the Lower Flathead River. It is 541 feet long by 205 feet high.





Construction on the dam began in 1930,but was stalled for 5 years during the Great Depression. Construction began again in 1936 and was completed in 1938.






The view of boater's stream from the lake.
At the overlook you get a wonderful view of downriver as well as watch a boater's stream coming in from Flathead Lake upriver.







The view downriver.









After visiting the vista point, there is also a drive down to the powerhouse near the bottom of the dam.





It's a great place for a picnic with well kept grounds and a public restroom. There is a boat launch for the lower river...this group was from Flathead Rafting.






The dam is located inside the Flathead Indian Reservation and operated jointly by PPL Montana and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.


The drive to the powerhouse was quite pretty...Pam, this picture is for you!





After Kerr Dam, our drive of 50 or so miles gave us views of beautiful farmland...I hope you enjoy some of the sites we saw!

















Have a great week!


 Take care...until next time...

10 comments:

  1. That is so funny! I was looking at the picture of the rocks and hadn't read what you had written next to it. I was thinking how totally cool those rocks were and then I read. Thanks for the beautiful rocks!! Keep 'um coming!

    Beautiful views and yummy cherries! Doesn't get much better:)

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  2. They had Flathead cherries at the Farmers Market on Saturday but they wanted $6/lb. Just couldn't justify spending that much. Some days I really hate being kind of poor. I'm not sure I could have drug Jim out of there without ice cream.

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  3. That cherry festival looks like a lot of fun. I love fresh cherries but for some reason am not that fond of cherry pie. The little guy with the bucket is cute.

    Thanks for sharing all the beautiful scenery pictures. That dam is pretty awesome. Can you imagine trying to get a project like that approved nowadays? Good thing they did it back when LOL! Looking at all those pictures makes me want to hit the road.

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  4. I've been eating cherries like crazy. I wish there was a cherry festival here I could go to. It sounds like lots of fun.

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  5. Oh how fun! I love small town festivals, and it's even better when they're centered around food. Not sure we could have resisted the pies :)

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  6. The festivals are fun. Love all the sites of the small towns. The pictures are great!

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  7. More fun again, love the homemade ice cream!

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  8. The area around Polson sure is pretty. The Cherry Festival sounds like fun. We visited Traverse City during its cherry festival earlier this month. We love the fresh cherries & just can't pass them up. I do think you made one minor mistake though, wouldn't a slice of hot cherry pie have gone real good with the homemade ice cream?

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  9. Ah Montana, love that state. Can't wait to get back out there one day....
    I don't think I would of had the will power on that cherry pie that is one of my favorites. And homemade ice cream on the top wow now that would have been awesome.
    That mama cow sure looked skinny didn't she. Love your pictures.

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  10. Love the cherry "salesman!" I would have bought some too from such a cute hawker! :-)

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