Oak Harbor Lions Club cherry sales benefit Whidbey Island

While some think of fireworks in July, others think of the fat, juicy cherries sold annually by the Oak Harbor Lions Club.

Volunteers are presently selling Bing and Rainier cherries out of their yellow trailer placed in front of the Rite Aid on Highway 20. The cherries are selling at $3 a pound for Bings and $3.50 a pound for Rainiers. The Oak Harbor Lions Club has 2,400 pounds of cherries that come from Eastern Washington. Volunteers hope to sell all of the cherries in about a week.

Once the cherries are sold, club members will move on to selling other fresh fruit, such as peaches, nectarines and apricots.

The money raised from the fruit sales supports Lions Club sight and hearing programs; Camp Horizon, which is a camp for disabled people; student scholarships; handicap equipment loan programs; and home improvement projects for senior citizens.

Volunteers note the community programs the Lions Club supports are the reason the fruit sales are so successful.

“They know what we stand for,” Oak Harbor Lions Club member James House said while bagging cherries.

The cherry sale comes days after the Coupeville Lions Club raised tens of thousands of dollars during its annual garage sale that took place during the Fourth of July weekend. Volunteers are still tallying the money raised from the two-day sale.

The Oak Harbor Lions Club will sell cherries daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Contact Whidbey News Times Staff reporter Nathan Whalen at nwhalen@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5058.

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