When Does Cherry Season Begin (and End)? - Eat Like No One Else

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Home » When are Fruits & Vegetables in Season? » When are Cherries in Season by State?

Learn all about when fresh cherries are in season. We take a look how the season progresses from south in California to north in Washington. We also have a list of when cherries are in season in other states.

📋 What's New In This Post (7/26/25) - Updated with personal experiences from traveling during cherry season to different states.

Red cherries hanging in bunches in a tree with green leaves.

Chasing Cherries: A Seasonal Obsession

You know, I can’t ever remember eating fresh cherries as a kid. Sure, I had the occasional maraschino cherry on a sundae or milkshake, but I honestly can’t recall a single time I bit into a real, fresh cherry until I was an adult.

Now, I can’t imagine a summer without them. Every year from May through August, I’m searching high and low—for the best cherries at the grocery store, the farmers market, and even the orchards themselves.

Unlike apples or bananas, cherries aren’t around all year. Their season is short, and that makes every bite feel special.

That’s why I put together this guide: to help you make the most of cherry season. Whether you're buying them from a store or hunting down a local orchard, I’ll share everything you need to know—along with my firsthand experiences tracking cherry season across different parts of the country.

My biggest hope is that I’ll teach you a little something about the different varieties of cherries out there, so you can make better purchasing decisions.

This post includes affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These are products and services I recommend because I use or trust them. Cookies will be used to track the affiliate links you click.

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Chasing Cherries: A Seasonal Obsession
🇺🇸 Season by State
🏄 California Cherries
🌸 Washington Cherries
ℹ️nfographic
🚗 Michigan
🐝 Utah
🗽 New York
🌲 Oregon
🆕 Cherry + Plum
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A gray bucket full of freshly picked red cherries.

🇺🇸 Season by State

If you are buying cherries in the grocery stores in most cases you are going to be getting them from one of two states - either California or Washington - with the latter being the top cherry producer.

I have the fortune of traveling the country and seeing cherries grown in many different states. I have taken that information along with what I have heard about other states to create a table below sharing when cherries are in season in each state that grows them. The list is approximate and can change depending on the year.

Southern Michigan	mid June - late July
Northern Michigan (incl. Traverse City)	early July - late August
Oregon (incl. Hood River)	early June - late August
California (starting in the south)	early May - mid June
Washington	early June - late August
Ohio	mid June - late July
Idaho	mid June - late July
Virginia	late May - mid July
New York	mid June - late July
Pennsylvania	mid June - late July
Maryland	mid June - late July
Maine	mid July - mid August
New Jersey	mid June - mid July
Iowa	late June - mid July
Indiana	mid June - late July
Illinois	mid June - late July
Wisconsin (incl. Door County)	mid July to mid August
Utah	mid June-July

🏄 California Cherries

Let’s start with what you’ll find in stores first: California cherries. The first cherries of the season you are going to find in the store are going to be from California.

The harvest begins in southern California, in Bakersfield. This usually begins around the end of April. The earliest cherry variety is the Brooks cherry, which is a cross between a Rainier and a Bing. From there, the harvest moves north to the Stockton/Modesto area.

Early season cherries are going to be on the expensive side. A couple times I have bought the first cherries I saw and not only did it cost a lot, it wasn't worth the money. It's best to hold off to when the Bing cherries are in season from California to start making your serious cherry purchases. That is usually around the end of May or early June.

In recent years, I have seen a lot of cherries on the market from California that were not very dark and more of a red color. That is a sign of poor quality as these varieties should be dark in color. It's important to look at the color of the cherry. Unless it's a variety that is suppose to be red, the bulk of the cherries in the store should be dark, even black in color.

Skeena Cherries in a box in a farm market in Washington.

🌸 Washington Cherries

By early June, the harvest comes to an end in California. At this time, the cherries in Washington will be ready. Some years there could be overlap to what you find in the stores.

Typically they start in the Pasco/Mattawa area and move north to Chelan, Okanagan, and Wenatchee. They are also able to harvest cherries in higher elevation all the way into late August.

July is the month when you typically seeing the greatest volume coming out of Washington and the lowest prices of the season. Prices creep back up a bit usually in August to end the season out.

There are many different varieties that are grown but stores don't market them that way, they are just red or dark sweet cherries. Bing is typically the only one you may see marketed as such. Other widely grown varieties include: Skeena, Sweetheart, Santa Rosa, Lapin, Chelen. The differences between these cherries are subtle. The variations are usually in color, firmness, the sugar to acid ratio. On occasion I have found Washington grown cherries at Costco that came in plastic containers with the variety name actually listed.

While dark sweet cherries are the most common coming out of Washington, they also produce many different types of light sweet cherries such as:

Rainier
Skylar Rae
Orondo Ruby

The harvest for these cherries is in mid to late June. I find the peak amount in stores around 4th of July and then slowly dropping off throughout the month.

Light cherries with red blush hanging in trees.

ℹ️nfographic

Here is handy, downloadable, and shareable graphic on the progress of cherry season.

An infographic that goes through the cherry season from start to finish.

🚗 Michigan

Now I want to go through the other states on the list. These are ones you likely will never see in the grocery store unless you live in the state. I can tell you from being a Michigander myself, most of the cherries in the store even during our season are still Washington grown.

Tart Balataon cherries with stems on them.

The most important thing to know is that Michigan is the number one producer of tart cherries in the United States—by a long shot. These cherries are typically lighter in color and have thinner skins, which makes them more delicate. What sets them apart is their bold, tangy flavor. When paired with sugar—like in my tart cherry cobbler recipe—they create a truly unforgettable dessert.

Tart cherries tend to ripen later in the season than sweet cherries. I worked at a farm in Michigan one season and their tart cherries typically were ready for picking around the 4th of July - I have memories of sweating out in the heat picking cherries there.

Sadly, there have been a lot of struggles in recent years for tart cherry growers in Michigan. Many are giving up and those that don't are struggling to make a profit. I hope we can continue to support them as it's rare to find fresh tart cherries.

Michigan's most well known cherry producing area is the Traverse City area - located on Lake Michigan, in the northeast part of the Lower Peninsula. My son and I took a trip up there many years ago during cherry season so I could get to the local farms to try out as many different types of cherries as I could. This is what I brought home that year.

A white sheet with different cherry varieties on it including Ulster, Gold, Rainer, Cavalier, Dark Sweet, White Gold, and Selah.

🐝 Utah

Don't overlook Utah as a cherry producing state. In 2023, I arrived in Utah in the middle of July. I had missed my chance to directly pick sweet cherries off the tree but on the first day I arrived I headed to a fun farm stand and found some sweet cherries to enjoy.

I was on time though to pick my own tart cherries right off the tree. After Michigan, Utah is 2nd place for tart cherry production. The price was only 99 cents a pound, which is an absolute steal and the cherries were super plentiful.

The best areas for cherries in the Utah appear to be near Payson, Utah and north of Salt Lake City in Utah's Fruit Way near Brigham City.

Montmorency Tart Cherries hanging in a tree in bunches

🗽 New York

If you are in New York, your cherry season begins in mid June and last until around mid July or so. New York is more of an apple state than a cherry state. You can find them at local farms and farm stands, which is what I experienced in 2021.

I tried to go picking cherries myself and the orchard I picked at the cherries were no longer any good. They looked like this:

A dark sweet cherry in a tree in New York with brown rot on it.

This is called brown rot and it is an issue with cherries grown in a humid climate. Which is why the dry summer climate of Washington makes for a great place to grow cherries. I would say if you are in New York and want to pick cherries you need to on top of your game. A lot of rain can bring the season to an end quicker than it could be.

🌲 Oregon

Being Washington's neighbor, I was not surprised on my first visit to Oregon during cherry season that I had plenty of options to choose from when it comes to cherries. The Hood River area, near Mt. Hood is a great cherry growing region. It's another place that you can find tart cherries as well as many different sweet cherry varieties.

The grocery stores in Oregon still mainly stock Washington cherries, so you have to go to orchards and farmers market to find them but they are easy to find when you are there.

Cherry and plum hybrid sitting on a white background. They are red in color with spots.

🆕 Cherry + Plum

Before I wrap up this post, I wanted to share something I have discovered in recent years - cherries and plums are compatible! So much they have crossed the two fruits, creating a cherry-plum hybrid. This fruit is a small plum with a smaller pit than a normal plum. It tastes more like a plum. They are really good.

Each year I see more and more of them in grocery stores, so they are becoming easier to find.

Three different types of cherries from dark to light red & yellow to red in small baskets on a table.

If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more when the best fruit are in season, take a moment and enter your email address in the form below to sign up for our e-mail list.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Thanks for the article and explanation. It makes complete sense that the season varies in different parts of the country/world......it's just that it didn't dawn on me until I read this!
I am glad you liked it and found it informative.
Hee hee, I live in Modesto and there is a Cherry Tree in my backyard. 😛
Now it's clear to me, I never knew for sure when and cherries were only available for such a short period. Thank you for explaining it. I love cherries so, I just want them all year.
I am glad you found this post informative. Cherries aren't like apples or oranges that can be keep in cold storage, they just don't last. Enjoy them when they come into season, which should be in about 6 weeks or so from now.
I love cherries and the information I read on when they are in season and when I can purchase them has been very helpful.
I would like to know how much longer will it be before the dark cherries from washington will be arriving in grocery stores in North Carolina
I heard the crop was running 2 weeks early this year, so I would expect to see them no later than mid June.
This my favorite fruit since I was a child in NYC. I move over to Puerto Rico and you never find them here. And with luck on august only and very, very expensive. I pay for it because is my fruit and I enjoy it. I fly to Orlando,Fl and buy them in large quantity

Regards Teddy
i am a Cherry adict. So much so, that i freeze the, and in off season, i take several and allow them to thaw just slightly. Surprisingly although they dont compete with fresh, they are still a welcome treat durring the off season. i buy in bulk waiting for lowest price to freeze, but this year the prices have gone up instead of down to date.
I have read an article in a magazine and it said instead of snacking at night to have afew cherries you will have a really good nights sleep is this true since I have read this I. have searched every supermarket to bye some so I am glad to have read your review on when you can buy them is what they say true
Where in or around Birmingham can I go and pick cherries this season?
Which Birmingham are you referring to?
With regards to tart cherries - Where can I find dried tart cherries with NO added sweetener's (I like them tart)?

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Nice to Meet You,

Hi! I'm Eric : Father of 4, living just south of Ann Arbor, MI. I'm a reformed picky eater finding a new way to not conform. Eating what's in season is my jam (I also make it!)