The sweetness of summer continues in Niagara-on-the-Lake, as tender fruit harvest and celebration began the first weekend of July with St. Mark’s annual Cherry Festival.
Hundreds lined up outside St. Mark’s Anglican Church on Saturday morning to get their hands on one of 700 highly coveted homemade cherry pies, as well as quarts of fresh cherries grown in town.
The festival has supported the church — and fed both locals and tourists cherry treats — for over 35 years, and this summer was no different.
Church volunteers were hard at work running the festival, whether by selling the desserts, sorting silent auction items or running the shopping tables and book sales on the property.
Preparations began in January with the baking of hundreds of pies, which are sold frozen the day of the festival.
“It takes a good six months of all these amazing volunteers that are just dedicating so much time to this important activity,” said Jo-Anne Hill, festival chair. “It’s our one fundraiser for the year.”
This year’s festival, like festivals past, started at 9 a.m., though the line-up for pies began much earlier. Typically, fresh-baked pies sell out faster than frozen ones, but it’s not unusual to sell all 700 pies before the festival comes to a close, Hill noted.
“We had 175 people waiting as of 7:30 a.m.,” she said. “They waited in the rain patiently, and they were wonderful, just wonderful.”
Sue and Cerry VanZandt stumbled upon the festival in an effort to explore Niagara-on-the-Lake while visiting from Alberta, and said they were happily surprised.
“We knew that this was a beautiful area, and we came into town and there was the cherry festival. It was a no-brainer — we were coming down here,” Cerry said.
“I was really hoping there’d be ice cream, so I was very happy,” Sue added, pointing to a slice of cherry pie served with vanilla ice cream, a popular treat for a hot festival day.
For some families, the St. Mark’s Cherry Festival is an annual summer must-do.
“We come out every year, we go to the Strawberry Festival, the Peach Festival, the Cherry Festival,” Toronto resident Stephanie Bonic said. She and her five-year-old son, Teddy, visit family in NOTL to attend the fruit-themed festivals.
Teddy tried a cherry and Coke float drink and was happy to report “it had ice cream in it.”
The treats are one part of the festival, the other being the silent auction and shopping tables. Attendees browsed items such as jewelry, books, CDs and home decor.
“I’m very touched by the atmosphere and the people that attend,” Hill said. She is leading the festival for the first time this year and says the church community was a great support in the process.
“I can get emotional talking about it,” she said. “I am just so touched and impressed and proud of how everybody dedicates so much time.”
All funds made by the festival go toward maintaining the over-200-year-old church and its community.
“It’s one of the oldest still operating Anglican churches in Canada,” Hill said. The book sale was moved inside the church this year, giving visitors a chance to peek inside the historic building.
“(The festival) is so important for us and for us to be part of the community,” she said. “It’s really, very heartwarming.”
