San Leandro launched its first cherry festival in the spring of 1909, when farmers expected a bumper crop and civic leaders saw a chance to celebrate and promote the city and its cherries. Reported as the greatest carnival yet attempted in the county, the event featured a 21-gun salute, a parade, a grand ball, carnival games and booths, and abundant cherries. Its success made the festival a regular event, and attendance grew from 45,000 in 1910 to 75,000 in 1912. The festivals were revived for a decade in the 1920s, another was held for San Leandro’s centennial in 1972, and cherry festivals have continued as celebrations of the community. San Leandro also used public festivities to promote its crops at the Alameda County Day Parade of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, where floats covered with local produce drew attention and Antone Vager’s cherry-covered car won first prize. At the 1910 cherry carnival, an estimated 45,000 visitors consumed 25 tons of cherries, with 10 tons given away and 15 tons sold.