YELLOW BAY — Throngs of community members and about 30 vendors trekked to the Yellow Bay Clubhouse on Saturday, May 19 for the Ninth-Annual Flathead Lake Cherry Blossom Festival and Mother Nature dealt the event a winning hand – two weeks too early.

Saturday wasn’t blessed with the picturesque blossoms that are part of the cherry growing process – those hit in early May – but the event was once again a success for event organizer Barbara Hammons as well as others involved.

“Basically, it’s a fundraiser for the clubhouse,” Hammons said. “We do charitable work, providing stuffed animals for foster kids in Kalispell, gifts for the Lakeview Care Center in Bigfork and contribute to food banks. The maintenance of this building is expensive, too.”

Before the debut of the festival, the cherry blossom event was highlighted by an East Shore Lions Club tradition of naming a queen, but when that came to a halt, Yellow Bay took over.

“We thought we should do something in the spring to celebrate the cherry blossoms, we started this and every year, it’s been bigger and bigger,” Hammons said. “It’s exciting.”

Throughout the day, vendors lined the parking lot and both floors of the clubhouse and Ken Edgington and Ralph Campbell, known as Jukebox Journey, delighted visitors with their music.

The cherry theme reigned supreme in and out of the clubhouse, but unfortunately, though nothing new to the event, the blossoms had already come and gone.

“It’s touted as a cherry blossom festival, but trying to hit it exactly when they’re blossoming – you might as well be in Vegas,” Hammons said. “This year, the blossoms were two weeks early, so we’re liable to have an early harvest.”

The blossoms last roughly seven to 10 days, according to Hammons, and despite their absence, the beauty of the outdoors was still present.

Katya Young of Good Earth Orchards in Bigfork had masterfully-painted garden rocks, giving the illusion of real flowers, as well as paintings and prints available at the festival. In her second year at the festival, Young was busy showing and telling of her items to the many people passing through.

“I’m so excited about this,” Young said of the event. “The garden rocks are a hobby of mine during the winter.”

The festival may have missed the cherry blossoms, but for the Yellow Bay Clubhouse, the event came up all aces.