Thoughts from the Tractor Seat: Why Royal Ann Was Never Second Best
By Ken Polehn
The Dalles, Ore., April 7, 2026 — In April, The Dalles crowns King Bing and Queen Ann.
Most people understand the king. Bing still fills grocery shelves across America. Deep red. Firm. Sweet. Photogenic. But the queen deserves her celebration too.
Ken Polehn
Royal Ann was never second best.
She was different.
Long before clamshells and export air freight, Royal Ann cherries filled brine tanks across The Dalles. Entire orchard blocks were planted specifically for that purpose. Not as a fallback. Not as seconds.
By design.
Royal Ann had structure. Firm flesh. A shape that held together through processing. She carried flavor differently — more delicate, more nuanced — and she anchored a whole segment of the cherry economy.
For decades, brine cherries were a major part of harvest season here. Trucks rolled. Processing crews worked steady shifts. Volume moved through town in ways that stabilized farms year after year.
Growers weren’t chasing glamour.
They were building durability.
Fresh markets can be volatile. A late rain. A soft market. A shipping delay. Royal Ann gave growers another lane — another way to spread risk and keep orchards viable.
That wasn't a compromise.
That was strategy.
The Dalles learned early that agriculture works best when it balances opportunity with stability. Bing and Royal Ann together represented that balance — fresh and processing, beauty and backbone.
Today, new varieties fill many of those roles. Markets have changed. Consumer preferences have shifted. The brine era isn’t what it once was.
But Royal Ann’s legacy remains.
She represents a time when this town understood how to build resilience into its orchards. When harvest wasn’t just about the highest price — it was about the whole system working together.
So when we crown Queen Ann this April, we aren’t just honoring a variety.
We’re honoring a way of farming that valued steadiness.
And that’s worth celebrating.
Because long before global supply chains and export programs, long before centralized marketing systems, The Dalles built its cherry industry on thoughtful decisions made hillside by hillside.
The fruit still grows here.
And every blossom that opens this month carries a little of that history with it.
Happy Cherry Festival.
About the Author
I was born in 1961 into a second-generation farm family in The Dalles. I grew up on a tractor seat, moving irrigation pipe with my sisters before school, and spent my summers picking cherries alongside the children of migrant families who returned year after year. My wife, children, and parents have all worked the same land. I’ve served as county Farm Bureau president, sat on the county fair board, and continue to support 4-H and FFA. I’ve seen firsthand what happens when farmers are squeezed out—not just of business, but of the conversation.
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