Up North / Bob's Blog

Here are some emails we received when we asked if Cherry Republic had any role in making good memories for 2012:

Bob - Your wonderful newsletters full of the touching stories about how you are raising your boys to be such lovers of life, nature and family.

Supplying rehearsal lunch guests at my son's wedding in August with jars of your cherry jam.

Your main store staff, particularly Cindy! They sifted through a mountain of receipts to determine that I was the customer who had left a bag behind on a busy Columbus Day weekend, found a phone number for me and then mailed the contents to me when we ran out of time to drive back.

Watching you move the huge boulder from one end of the garden to the other with help from the boys while I rested on the steps, leading to the above left behind bag...

The sad memory of watching many bottles of wine purchased at your Traverse City store crash to the gravel in the Interlochen parking lot because SOMEONE didn't brace them well enough.

Worrying about all the cherry dependent businesses in a state that has been so hard hit by the economic downturn.

Happiness that quick thinking and reaching half way around the world for cherries kept your business going!

Enjoying my last dark chocolate covered cherries while I baked piles of Christmas cookies.

Dreaming of ordering more once I work off said cookies, and sending some to my son (Interlochen Arts Academy '07) who leaves for the Army next week.

Thanks for the Michigan memories!

Ruth S.
Arlington Heights, IL

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We made our first trip to Glen Arbor, Sleeping Bear Dunes and Cherry Republic! Best trip ever !

Elizabeth W.

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Hello Cherry Republic!

Dave and I were on a two week vacation in Michigan, September 2012. One of our favorite memories of 2012, was visiting Bob Sutherland and his family in Glen Arbor. Bob treated Dave and I to a wonderful bike ride (family bikes provided by Bob!) on the new TART bike trail section in Glen Arbor. We biked with Bob, Colebrook and Hawthorn for quite a way around beautiful areas of Glen Arbor. It sure was a lot of fun! We also enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked by Bob, along with his mother and sons. It was also very special to have lunch with Bob at the Glen Arbor Cherry Republic the next day. Our trip to Glen Arbor visiting Bob, his family and the Cherry Republic made 2012 a very memorable year!

Have a very happy new year and hope to see you again!

Sincerely,
Carol D.
Pacific Grove, California

(Carol was the winning bidder in one of our auctions that benefitted the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail)

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Dear Cherry Republic,

My wife is a travel nurse, I'm a retired veterinarian/ house-husband. On our most recent assignment in Fairhaven, Massachusetts our landlady was nice enough to
put us up in her home during hurricane Sandy as our rental on Buzzards Bay was at risk. In appreciation of her hospitality we had you send her a nice mix of Cherry Republic goodies.
About a week later we again were invited to her husband's and her home. On their coffee table were the remains of our gift, not much left. They truly enjoyed the treat from C.R.
We often use you for just such gifts of appreciation, from Massachusetts to California.
Thanks for the great products,
Ken and Karen E. - Interlochen

If you'd like to share a Cherry Republic memory, please email molly@cherryrepublic.com!

We would love your input on our giving.  Please

What does Life, Liberty, Beaches and Pie stand for?

It was 23 years ago when I created this motto on a t-shirt. I needed those words in gold and black to sit below a drawing of a beautiful cherry tree and big red Cherry Republic text. In past weeks, I talked about Life and Liberty. This time, let’s talk about “Beaches.”

(continued from the 5/10 Orchard Report)

....Colebrook the loud one that doesn’t let anything go by without comment takes bite and spits it out so fast and says “yucky”. I start laughing loudly, which he takes as a green light to have some fun, so he grabs a stalk of buttered asparagus and whacks me over the side of the head. I have eaten half myself by the time Hawthorn says, “It tastes like fried mud”. What a brilliant food critic I think to myself. All the while I am eating my portion, I am wondering how well my friend Mark really knows what is edible in the woods or not. I laugh even louder and tell my mother I am more relieved that the kids did not like it than if they did, so I don’t have to worry about them chucking in the night. Later, the boys and I brought dinner up to Steph. And we couldn’t help but go back into the garbage and grab out a slice of that puff ball and see if we could get her to eat it. Hawthorn was all about fooling her-- “This will make you healthy Momma”. But her kindred soul Colebrook quickly calls us out. Foiled. Once the dishes were done and all signs of the puff ball had disappeared, Steph made a miraculous recovery. Just the sight of that puff ball in the fridge must have had her tossing her marbles all day.