DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — At Door County Wildwood Market in Sister Bay, you can get cherry salsa, cherry jam, cherry tarts and of course, cherries, which have opened up the orchard to neighbors.
"You get to the point where the cherries are ripe, and you just hope that Mother Nature cooperates and you don't get a hailstorm or a windstorm," Door County Wildwood Market co-owner Mary Pat Carlson said. "They want the experience of doing it and that's what we're really here for."
After sweet cherry picking debut last week, tart cherry-picking season started Saturday morning. Montmorency cherries were the most popular ones picked.
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It is a busy stretch for co-owner Mark Carlson.
"It's seven days a week, and long hard days in hot weather," he said.
Mark was raised in the area.
"My grandfather and his older brother planted the orchard's first trees in 1917," he said.
Mark also has memories rooted around this time of year.
"When I was a kid, I got $0.25 a pail," he said reminiscing on his childhoods spent picking for his father. "The rest of the pickers got $0.20 a pail."
Those are memories Mark and Mary Pat want to continue. With their daughter, Anna, and their granddaughter, Karmen, also helping around the market, the Carlsons are right where they want to be.
"I love it up here," Mark said. "I've lived in cities and I won't do that anymore. This is always going to be my home."
Mark said that while weather conditions truly decide cherry picking season, he anticipates that it will go on for a few weeks.
