Cherry Picking, Live Music and Wine Draw Crowds to Gush Etzion Festival

Gush Etzion is hosting its annual cherry-picking festival, which runs through July 1 and has been expanded this year into a larger event with live bands and artists. The festival, promoted with Gush Etzion Tourism, aims to give families a nature getaway during the early summer, when the short cherry season lasts only about a month and a half in the area.

Visitors who came to the orchards over the weekend described the experience as restorative after months tied to home because of the war. One woman said, “I have not done this for a long time because of the war, we have not left the house for a long time,” adding that she came “to unwind a little” and enjoy the quiet. Another visitor, Ivan Adamov, said the orchards reminded him of his grandmother’s fruit fields in Siberia, while his young daughter Alisa said, “It was fun! And we will come here as much as possible.”

Manger of the cherry orchard Dror Altman said the idea of opening the orchards for self-picking began five years ago so more people could share the harvest. He noted that, for the first time, the cherries are being paired with a joint festival featuring stages, bands, and one ticket that covers everything. He called the short harvest season in Gush Etzion, “about a month and a half,” and invited the public to come.

Beyond the orchards, the area offers pastries, boutique shops, Israel’s longest zipline, local wineries, and options for hiking and off-road trips. Heder Avirami, a Gush Etzion resident and senior KKL employee, said the main lesson for children is seeing that fruit does not “grow in the supermarket in a plastic basket.” Assaf Rosenberg of Gush Etzion Winery said the business began in the early 1990s with family raspberry wine and liqueur, and called the region “the oldest grape-growing area in Israel.” The tourism office says visitors can also stay in local guesthouses and khans, visit springs and viewpoints, and book jeep or ATV tours.