The 2011 Victorian Cherry Season Launch took place at the Spring Harvest Picnic, Werribee. This year Mother Nature was kinder to us, and the launch day saw superb weather reflected by the strong visitor numbers. Incessant rainfall and flooding of the lawn area the day before caused delays and slowed down set up operations, but not our spirits!

The Victorian Cherry Association [VCA] team starred at the Cherry Marquee and people loved meeting the growers and buying those amazing cherries! Thanks to Stuart and Stephanie Pickworth, Karen Nagle, Stephen Riseborough, Gen Aumann and her friend Robyn Horner, John Wilson, his daughter Vanessa and her friend Domenic, Chris Tuck and Franklin Trouw.

Activities on the day

·         Cherry Pip Competition
Heats were run from 10 am to 12.30 pm with the final at 1.00 pm. The prize was a cherry red Kitchen Aid stand mixer valued at $799 plus a bonus prize of a U-Pick Cherry Experience at the winner’s chosen local farm.
The Cherry Pip Competition ran smoothly thanks to Gen Aumann, her friend Robyn Horner, Vanessa Wilson and her friend Domenic Whitehouse and event assistant Laura Donato. The compere "Roger Red Jacket" was a smash hit and made the competition entertaining. The resources provided by Harvest Picnic Foundation lay the groundwork for the success of the competition with fencing, red carpet, small stage and red pop up marquee with bunting specially produced by Kirsty Hunt, Executive Officer

·         Cherry Recipes and Tastings
Sally Lukey of Sweetpea Cuisine kept cherry recipes bubbling along, starting with Cherry Hotties (pancakes) in the morning followed by Cherry Vanilla Smoothies, which she whipped up in the KitchenAid blender. The smoothies were a knockout success as the vision and sound of the blender whirring away attracted lots of people to the marquee.

·         Cherry Sales & Tastings
Stuart and Stephanie Pickworth and Karen Nagle displayed and sold cherries and Chris Tuck and Franklin Trouw offered cherries for tasting outside the front of the marquee. People remarked on the high quality of the appearance and the taste of the cherries. We based our product estimation on last year’s orders with a slight increase in case the weather was good and visitor numbers increased accordingly. The red cups of cherries sold very well as did the 1kg boxes - so much so that we ran out of cherries by about mid afternoon.

·         Harvest Trail Brochure
The team promoted U-Pick Cherry Experiences, showing the public the new brochure and the various Victorian locations. When we ran out of cherries we encouraged people to take their family and friends to a U-pick farm over the following weekends and holidays.  Over 500 brochures were taken on the day.

·         Co-promotion
Jo Richardson, celebrity presenter and KitchenAid representative, presented cherry recipes at the Neff Cooking Demonstration Marquee.