NEGATIVES OF CHERRY FESTIVAL

Along with the many positive aspects of the the National Cherry Festival comes a few downfalls of the festival on Traverse City, Michigan. Jodi Brady, a resident of Traverse City for 27 years, says she becomes frustrated with the large of abundance of tourists that this festival brings, especially while driving and shopping. She says her daily 15-minute drive to work usually turns into a 30 to 40-minute drive. Another resident, Jessie Black, also says she doesn’t like how the National Cherry Festival leaves a mess downtown. She says, “Many tourists don’t respect this city during the Cherry Festival. It makes me upset that when I go to the beaches or downtown, there is trash everywhere on the ground. Not cool.”

PROS OF CHERRY FESTIVAL

There are many positive aspects of the National Cherry Festival on Traverse City, Michigan.  Michael Norton, a media relations manager at Traverse City Tourism says the greatest contribution of he NCF is the “sense of community pride” it brings the residents. The festival also fills up local businesses and provides over a million dollars in revenue, while providing both locals and tourists with many fun activities. We see the impact of the large revenue on many local businesses, including Panera Bread. Michelle Stockman, an associate manager, reported that Panera Bread fed more than 750 customers on Friday, July 8, 2016 during the Cherry Festival, ranking top 5 busiest days. Another positive aspect of the NCF is that the locals get to interact with tourists from all over the world. Local Jessie Black says that these interactions with tourists make her more grateful to live in this beautiful city.

BUDREAU BALL REVIEW

At the Budreau family reunion in Lake Orion this weekend, there was a friendly 3x3 basketball game between the men of the family. The “Birthday Boys” (Duane Budreau, Matthew Budreau, John Budreau, and Jacob Wilder) took on the “Graduated Extreme Ballers” (Jimmy Budreau, Ryan Grant, Tyler Budreau, and Cam Wilder).

After the first three minutes, the game was tied at 0-0.

Matthew Budreau said, “I really didn’t think the Graduated Extreme Ballers would play so hard! While we were tied, I actually believed no one was going to ever score!”

At half time the Birthday Boys were up 12-8, but the game was still very close.

The game stayed tied at 19-19 for one minute and 42 seconds, until Jimmy Budreau made the game winning shot for the Graduated Extreme Ballers.

The game was played on the regulated size basketball court in the Budreau’s backyard.

The game finished with a huge win for the Graduated Extreme Ballers (Jimmy Budreau, Ryan Grant, Tyler Budreau, and Cam Wilder).