Cherry Blossoms in Utah

I am from the East Coast (Delaware originally) and one of my favorite spring events was to go to DC and see the Cherry Blossom trees.  It was ethereal and something that I always missed after leaving that area.

This is my first spring in Utah and imagine my surprise and DELIGHT to find Cherry Blossoms - Everywhere!  The smell and the beauty just adds to the charm of Provo.




Did you know:

House Bill HB33, which designated the cherry as the official state fruit in 1997, was sponsored by Rep. Fred Hunsanker, R-Logan; the 2nd graders at Millville Elementary School in Millville, Utah were responsible for presenting the new state fruit. Thank you to the school children for researching the subject and gathering the following information.

The Millville Elementary School children selected fruit as their choice to support as a new state symbol and chose the apple, peach, and cherry as candidates. After compiling some basic information concerning each of these fruits and their economic impact upon Utah and polling elementary schools throughout the state, the cherry came out the strong leader.

Both sweet and tart or pie cherries are grown in Utah; the average yearly cherry sales for the past 5 years was $5,564.600. Utah is the second largest tart cherry producing state in the nation and fifth in the nation in the production of sweet cherries. No other state ranks in the top five in both categories. About 2 billion cherries are harvested yearly and approx. 4,800 acres of agricultural land is used for cherry production.

Cherries are grown in Utah, Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Washington counties. The cherries are sold as fresh fruit, to canneries to make pies, brined as maraschino cherries or dried.

Another interesting fact, submitted to the Millville Elementary School children, is that cherry trees were sent to Utah by the Japanese following World War II. They surround the capitol building in Salt Lake City. The cherry tree is a symbol of friendship to the Japanese.

Some of my pics of the Cherry Blossoms in Provo: