Page 21 - Flathead Beacon // 7.20.16

Red Harvest
Every summer dating back 120 years, the orchards along Flathead Lake have shined bright with groves of cherries, renewing an iconic tradition.
by DILLON TABISH photos by GREG LINDSTROM
FINLEY POINT — BY THE EARLY MORNING OF July 13, only a few days after word spread across the West, vehicles lled a large parking lot near the east-side shore of Flathead Lake. The licenses plates stretched as far away as California, but many were from Washington, where the robust summer fruit harvest had ended days earlier.
In an annual pilgrimage that can draw more than 1,000 people from all over the region, groups of migrant workers — either individual men and women or fami- lies of all ages, sometimes stretching three generations — arrived at the shores of Flathead Lake for the sudden scramble of cherry season.
Fidel Gomez, a single father with a 9-year-old daugh- ter and 7-year-old son, followed the advice of his parents, who have been traveling here for several years and have extolled the annual summertime journey as advanta- geous. His children came last year with Gomez’s sister, and after hearing about this season’s crop, Fidel decided to make the trek from his home in Washington.
“It’s exciting. The kids are excited and they love com- ing here,” Gomez, 34, said last week. “It’s kind of a fam- ily reunion. My family come from all over. There’s a lot of work.”
JULY 20, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
21