The Who, What, Where, When and Why of the Cherry Pickers Trot

 

What Is The Cherry Pickers Trot?

This is a community event that is put together by the Green Bluff Growers Association. The main event is the 4 mile fun run, which you can run or walk. Every year there are about 1000 people who participate. There are many other events going on besides the run. These include a Tot Trot for children 5 and under, Cherry Pit Spit, live music, dinner from the local volunteer firefighters and homemade cherry pie with ice-cream from the Green Bluff Community Church.

Who started the Cherry Pickers Trot?

This event was started in 1978, which means this is its 40th year.

The idea for the Cherry Pickers Trot Fun Run came to Brenda McGlade, a Northwest Christian high school distance runner who lived on a orchard in Green Bluff, as she was enjoying a run one summer evening. She hoped to introduce more Spokane runners to Green Bluff and to raise money to send her Northwest Christian high school cross country teammates to a running camp. Cherry Season was picked for the time of the trot due to the nice weather on summer evenings and the ease of sharing Green Bluff fruit with the participants. The first Cherry Pickers Trot was in 1978 (a year after the first Spokane Bloomsday Run) and attracted 60 runners.

Brenda’s grandfather was the first race official making sure no one jumped the gun or “I will shoot you in the pants.”  Farmer Byron Siemers began the tradition of using a tractor (equipped with an outhouse on the trailer) as the pacing vehicle. Bloomsday Founder and 1976 Olympic Marathon Fourth Place Finisher Don Kardong and his training partner Rick Riley tied to win the Men’s Division, while Brenda won the Women’s Division. Green Bluff orchardist and Bloomsday Finish Line Announcer Tracy Walters provided Finish Line encouragement.  All runners received a small bag of Green Bluff cherries, and the first Cherry Pit Spitting Contest was held.

The Green Bluff Direct Marketing Association took over the running and promotion of the Cherry Pickers Trot when Brenda moved away to go to college and has expanded the event to include food, live music, and country entertainment for the entire family.

Where Is the Cherry Pickers Trot located?

For the past 4 years it has been located in front of the old school house which is now owned by the Green Bluff Community Church. There are also activities in and around the Green Bluff Grange. The race begins right at the intersection between the church, the old Green Bluff Store and Beck’s Harvest House. It then goes around the east side of the bluff.

When is the Cherry Pickers Trot?

The Cherry Pickers Trot is always the third Thursday of July. I have been asked why we have this event on a Thursday rather than on a weekend. This is because the Green Bluff Association is made up of individual farms; each farmer is needed to run his or her own farm on the weekends. The weekends are the farms’ busiest days of the week, so it is important for them to keep things running smoothly at their own farms.

 

Why Do They Start The Cherry Pickers Trot Out With Byron Siemers Driving A B John Deere, Pulling An Outhouse?

When you eat too many cherries you can get the trots and may need to run for the outhouse? 😁