Cherry Orchard Tourism

Lance Phillips owns Crimson Gem Orchard, a cherry growing operation in Gem County. "We have a cooler over here where we can put things in storage and deliver them all over the Treasure Valley. It seems that there are a lot of people who like cherries."

And that's good news for Stephanie LaMoore of the local chamber of commerce. A good cherry crop means more visitors to the Valley. And they spend money.

"We are promoting tourism in the Gem County. We actually create an orchard map. That map lists all of the orchards in town along with what everybody cells. A lot of people from the Treasure Ballet come over here and call us. It is on our website and that is what they utilize the most. Being born and raised here, I always knew we had the orchards. I didn't realize exactly what we had to offer. I do see a lot more and more each year of people coming out here. They want to picnic and want to pick their own produce and just enjoy our Valley."

As a new orchard owner, orchardist Lance Phillips likes what the chamber is doing to help agriculture in the Valley.

"The Chamber of Commerce has a promotional video where they are promoting tourism. I thought it would be a great opportunity as a new orchard owner to have them out and have them see my operation, see what I am doing, and to help get the word out there. Any publicity is good publicity so long as it helps sell cherries, right?

For you cherry lovers anxiously awaiting a pick, visit the Facebook page for Crimson Gem orchard in order to follow the progress of the crop.