Utah Fruit

Cherry

Adopted in 1997.

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.

Utah's 2002 tart and sweet cherry production's forecast is the lowest since 1972 due to frost early in the growing season. Utah expects a tart cherry crop of 3.0 million pounds, 75 percent smaller than last season. Sweet cherry production is forecast at 400 tons, a decline of 43 percent from last year's crop, and the second lowest level since estimates began in 1938. About 4,800 acres of Utah land is devoted to cherry production, primarily in Utah, Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Washington counties. Utah cherries are sold as fresh fruit, to canneries to make pies, brined as maraschino cherries or dried.