The Friskes turned to Facebook to explain their position in videos that attracted both zealous supporters and harsh critics. Michigan’s health department issued a mask directive, which the Friske Farm Market defied until the state threatened to revoke its business license.
#SWEET CHERRIES POLITICS FARM STANDS NATIONS SERIES#
When the State Supreme Court nullified a series of the governor’s Covid-related executive orders in October, it effectively tossed out her mask mandate and made the lawsuit moot. Gretchen Whitmer, arguing that wearing masks should have remained a personal choice. King’s is more homespun, with apples displayed in wooden baskets customers are encouraged to pick their own fruit from the orchards. Friske’s, which bills itself as “Not Your Average Fruit Stand,” features the Orchard Cafe, a bakery and a store stuffed with curios as well as everything needed to make pie. The abundant water tempers the climate and, combined with the low, cigar-shaped hills, creates ideal conditions to grow fruit.įriske’s and King’s are two of the most popular farm stands - both low, red, wooden barnlike structures with white trim. “Choosing where you go, choosing where you shop, choosing all the things that your life interacts with that used to be not political now are a lot more political.”Īntrim County, population 23,324, is known for its chain of 14 long, narrow, sometimes turquoise lakes spilling into Lake Michigan. “Political divisions have infiltrated other parts of people’s lives a lot more than they used to,” said Larry Peck, 68, a retired oil company executive. Now the molten flow of anger over the presidential election and virus mitigation measures is hardening into enduring divisions over activities as simple as where people buy their fruit. He will boycott King’s forever, he said, “along with other progressive, communist business owners in this county.”ĭifferences that had always simmered beneath the surface were inflamed by the coronavirus pandemic and pushed many people in places like Antrim County into their tribal corners. Bishop, sometimes called the “Rush Limbaugh of Antrim County,” abandoned long-distance trucking during the 2009 recession and currently hosts a talk radio show. On the other side, Randy Bishop eyes the King Orchards farm stand with similar rancor.
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