RED, WHITE & BLUE & CHERRIES TOO FESTIVAL WILL BLOOM IN JUNE.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LEONA VALLEY - Cherries will be ripe for the picking just in time for Leona Valley's annual Cherry Parade and Festival.

Thousands of visitors are expected to visit the small town nestled in the hills west of Palmdale to watch the June 8 parade and horse show, pick cherries and buy handmade arts and crafts.

``I think there will be plenty of cherries for people,'' said John Mayfield, owner of Big John's Cherry Orchard.

Sweet red, white and sour pie cherries will be available for sale at the various ``u-pick'' orchards, where customers climb ladders to pick cherries themselves. Many of the orchards have pesticide-free fruit.

Some orchards were hit by cold weather a month ago, when temperatures dropped to 26 degrees six nights in a row, Mayfield said.

``There's a few orchards that's gonna be a pretty fair crop; some orchards got hit pretty bad with the freeze,'' he said.

The parade's grand marshal is local resident Paul Sloane, who is active in the Leona Valley Town Council and the historical society and on the Leona Valley Improvement Association board.

The theme this year is ``Red, White, and Blue and Cherries Too'' - a title submitted by Leona School fifth-grader Kelsey Wright. As winner of the theme contest, Wright also gets to ride in the parade.

Returning to the festival is Horse Play Day, to be held behind the Leona Valley Community Center after the parade.

The parade is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., at Leona School on Leona Avenue at 90th Street West, and end at the Leona Valley Community Center on Elizabeth Lake Road. The Community Center is also the site for the craft fair, which will start after the parade and continue until approximately 5 p.m.

The community center is the site as well for children's activities and food offered for sale by the Leona Valley Improvement Association.

To reach Leona Valley, drive west on Palmdale Boulevard about nine miles past the Antelope Valley Freeway to 90th Street West. Palmdale Boulevard turns into Elizabeth Lake Road. Road signs will direct visitors to the various orchards.

The roads will close at 10:45 a.m. so spectators should arrive early for the parade. For more information on the parade, call Jim Bonn at [phone]; on the craft fair, call Kathy Scott at [phone]; and for Horse Play Day, call Tanya Burton at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color; 2 -- 3 -- color in AV edition only) Visitors are more than welcome at Leona Valley for the community's Cherry Parade and Festival on June 8. Every year repeat customers throng to the region to climb ladders and harvest their own cherries in the various ``u-pick'' orchards. At left, Hobarts Cherries proudly displays his crop.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer