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Cherry Basket Farm history, as written by the Omena Historical Society

From Leelanau News

February is National Cherry Month, and the cherry industry has long been a part of Omena history. One interesting story is about two women from Grand Rapids who purchased Cherry Basket Orchards, just north of Omena, in 1926. Miss Enid M. Bailey was a nurse and superintendent of the Convalescent Home opened by Mary Free Bed. Miss Louise R. Taylor owned the Taylor Typewriter Company. While they were successful women in their own fields, neither knew anything about cherry farming.

It was the early, golden days of cherries, and a quote from a July 18, 1930, article in the Grand Rapids Herald, bears testimony to how things have changed – both for cherries and for women... [Read more..]