BRENTWOOD — The traffic backup can start two miles down the road, some parking lots already full soon after opening, while those lucky to have found a spot wait outside in long lines in the hot sun waiting for admission.
No, it’s not Disneyland in the summer —- it’s cherry picking season in Brentwood.
Despite a chill that yielded a lower crop throughout the state this year, crowds made the trek from all over the Bay Area and flocked to Brentwood’s “U-Pick” farms to taste the sweet fruit that’s typically ripe between the end of April and start of June. This Memorial Day weekend was especially brimful of sun-hat wearing people awaiting to fill their buckets full of cherries.
Cherries need about 1,200 hours of “winter chill,” when temperatures drop below 45 degrees but stay above 32 degrees. Larry Enos, owner of 5 Star Cherries at 24782 Marsh Creek Road, said the frost came in at 25 degrees Fahrenheit this year, affecting the buds, which caused a weird bloom season, and a lighter crop. They sell red cherries, Lapin, and Sweetheart variety, plus the white variety, Rainiers…
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