TRAVERSE CITY \u2014 Past and current National Cherry Festival presidents and National Cherry Queens gathered at the Park Place Hotel in Traverse City on Friday.<\/p>\n
LuEllen Benson Baty, the oldest surviving National Cherry Queen was there. She was crowned in 1961 at 18 years old. <\/p>\n
Growing up in Traverse City, her family was involved in the local cherry industry and her mother participated in the Cherry Festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing just to have one more day in your life when you\u2019ve lived in a wonderful country, in a community with people,\u201d Baty said. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s wonderful that they\u2019re recognizing all these people, not just me, but the directors, this one that are here, former directors that have helped put on this wonderful event each year.\u201d <\/p>\n
Baty was surprised when she was crowned Queen, she never planned to run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always really tall, 5 feet 11 inches and it just didn\u2019t seem possible for me,\u201d Baty said. She explained she ran \u201cbecause my girlfriends were all running and I thought I should be supportive.\u201d <\/p>\n
During her reign, Baty traveled throughout the country promoting cherries. <\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoyed being out and talking to people, introducing them to the product that they already knew, but making them more aware how really good the product is both to eat and medicinally, all different ways,\u201d Baty said. <\/p>\n
She noted that the experience changed her life. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve met so many wonderful people around this community in the world that I would not have known it on other way,\u201d Baty said.<\/p>\n