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10th year for South Okanagan Cherry Pit Contest

The event is a fun-filled way to celebrate the local harvest
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Three-time cherry spit champion Colin Lacee of Edmonton watches as his cherry pit rises into the air, not making it far enough to beat the 2018 champion, Jesse Ashworth of Ucluelet, who had a record breaking 36.5 foot spit. (Western News file photo)

Have you got the right stuff to propel a cherry pit into the record books?

In a fun-filled way to celebrate the local harvest, the Naramata Community Market will again stage the Great Cherry Pit Spitting Contest at this Wednesday’s market.

READ MORE: Naramata cherry pit competition draws international crowd

The event started in 2010 as a celebration of the local cherry harvest. Since that year, Rob Van Westen has been supplying the Lapin cherries from his orchard on Boothe Road. Van Westen is a third generation cherry farmer, and he said they are the oldest Lapin trees in the Okanagan Valley.

The fun starts at 4:30 p.m. at Wharf Park, Naramata, on July 17, 2019. Its free to enter. Prizes include Naramata Market Bucks for the winners of each age category

A new champion was crowned in 2018. Jesse Ashwell, visiting from the Vancouver Island town of Ucluelet, sent his cherry pit some 36.5 ft. off the measuring map. Ashwell took the title from Edmonton visitor Colin Lacey, who had held the cherry spitting crown for three years.

Van Westen’s daughter Olivia won in the kids category (ages nine to 12) for the second year in a row. She had a winning spit of 19.5 feet. Her great grandfather planted the Lapin trees that the cherries were harvested from.

The world record cherry pit spit is some 93 feet and 6.5 inches.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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