International Cherry Pit Spitting Day Date in the current year: July 6, 2024

Cherry pit spitting is the act of spitting a cherry pit from one’s mouth so as to send it a great distance. The person credited with popularizing the activity is Herb Teichman, an agritourism pioneer nicknamed “the Dean of Southwest Michigan Fruitgrowers”. In the early 1970s, he started hosting the International Pit-Spitting Competition at the Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm outside of Eau Clair, Michigan as a way to promote his cherries and draw visitors to the farm.

When launching his competition, Teichman couldn’t even imagine that it would turn into an annual event held on the first Saturday of July, pave the way for multiple other competitions, and inspire the creation of International Cherry Pit Spitting Day. Although Teichman died in early 2019 and the International Pit-Spitting Competition in Eau Clair was discontinued, International Cherry Pit Spitting Day helps to keep his legacy alive.

Teichman’s International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship was the first event of its kind, but it didn’t stay the only one for long. In 1981, the Canadian National Pit Spit Championship was introduced as an event at the Blenheim Cherry Fest held in the town of Blenheim, Ontario. The German town of Witzenhausen hosts a cherry pit spitting competition on the second weekend of July during its annual cherry picking festival.

In Australia, cherry pit spitting competitions are held at the National Cherry Festival in Young, New South Wales and at the Manjimup Cherry Harmony Festival in Manjimup, Western Australia. Both festivals take place in early December because what is winter in the Northern Hemisphere is summer in the Southern Hemisphere and thus the cherry picking season in Australia.

In most competitions, each contestant is given a cherry to prevent tampering with cherry pits. Besides, cherry pits are easier to spit when just removed from the cherry due to being slippery. The Guinness world record for cherry pit spitting distance has been held by Brian “Young Gun” Krause since 2004. He spat a cherry pit 28.51 meters. By the way, the record was set at the International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship in Eau Claire.

Krause is a member of the family that has dominated the sport of cherry pit spitting for decades. His father, Rick “Pellet Gun” Krause, won the International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship 19 times during his 40 years of competing. Marlene Krause, Rick’s wife and Brian’s mother, is a seven-time champion of the women’s competition in Eau Claire. Another well-known cherry pit spitter is “Gentleman Joe” Lessard Sr. who has won both the International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship and the Canadian National Pit Spit Championship.

How to celebrate International Cherry Pit Spitting Day? You can organize a friendly cherry pit spitting competition for your friends and family, visit a local fruit farm and check out their cherries, or simply buy some cherries and indulge yourself.