If you got out to Commercial Tire at 2144 W. Crawford early on Monday morning, you were able to take home a case or two of juicy Colorado peaches. If you arrived in the rain after 9:15 a.m., you drove home empty-handed but determined to get up early the next time.
So, in this unusual year of a pandemic, people are further affected by a freeze on the Colorado peach crop. Because of a freeze this spring, the peach crop is 25% to 40% of normal size.
“It’s just a bad year,” said Erin Behrens, who operates the peach business with her sister, Julie Ann Christensen. “There’s just not enough for everyone. It was a bad freeze.”
Behrens usually works inside at Commercial Tire, which is owned by her father. But, for six weeks each year, she gets to make people happy by selling peaches from a semitrailer in the parking lot. They also sell peaches in Lincoln and Ellsworth.
The peaches at Commercial Tire have become a cherished summer tradition. Customers pick up a case for themselves, a case for friends or relatives and share them with others. Behrens said she always appreciates customers’ efforts to come back each year and to enthusiastically share their peaches with coworkers and neighbors.
Jean Huser, of Salina, arrived with a friend a few minutes after the truck was closed up.
“We forgot,” Huser said. “Then we saw on Facebook that traffic was backed up to Brahms, so we came out.”
Huser had plans to buy a case, give some away and freeze peaches for later in the year.
“We usually have a full truck load,” Behrens said. “And, people come out throughout the day. Today we had six pallets and people began to line up by 6:15. We opened before 7. I’m sorry. We can only do what we can do.”
Behrens remembers one other year when a freeze affected the Colorado peach crop.
“It must have been six, eight years ago. So, this is unusual and unfortunate,” she said.
Behrens encourages peach lovers to check Facebook at Colorado Peaches for Salina, Kansas. Plans are to sell peaches again in Salina on Aug. 10, 17 and 31. They usually begin selling at 7 a.m.
