Cherry Festival within spitting distance

Malcolm Perrin was an ordinary working man in the 1980s, an electrical linesman living in the bush with his young family.

But by the end of the decade, an out-of-the-ordinary talent would earn him the trip of a lifetime and a title of world champion.

Mr Perrin won the cherry pip-spitting competition at the National Cherry Festival in Young, NSW in 1987, when he propelled a seed about 20 metres through the air.

He went on to compete at a cherry festival in Traverse City, Michigan, where he claimed the world title.

He also won the pie-eating competition, a grand tradition at the century-old carnival hailed as the one of the US state's gems.

"It really broadened our horizons," Mr Perrin told AAP.

"Having a family, we couldn't afford for everyone to go, so I went by myself. That was a big thing at the time. It was the best thing that ever happened."

Mr Perrin, now 74, fondly remembers the American extravagance as people zoomed around in sleek Pontiac sports cars provided by the motor giant sponsor.

He took a hot air balloon ride, went water-skiing on the glittering waters of Lake Michigan, travelled to Canada and stopped in at Disneyland.

"The people were really great. We're still friends with a lot of them 34 years later."

Pip-spitting contests are a nostalgic highlight at cherry festivals in European and North American growing regions. 

The Guinness World Record holder is America's Brian "Young Gun" Krause, who spat a pip 28.51m in 2004. His father, Rick "Pellet Gun" Krause, is also a champion spitter.

The Australian competition returns to the national festival in Young next Sunday, part of a weekend celebrating the nation's affinity with the ruby red summer fruit.

The allure is so strong some Sydneysiders make the four-hour trip to Young every year to buy a box of fresh cherries from orchardist Barisha Batinich's farm gate. 

"I call it an inland prawn. It's a delicacy, a high-end fruit that people go crazy over," said Mr Batinich, who runs Valley Fresh Cherries and Stonefruits.

"It's like a pilgrimage, something they do for their family."

The cherry season, which usually starts in mid-November, will kick in a few weeks late due to months of cold and wet weather but still in time for the festival.

While the weather is expected to affect national supply and prices, cool temperatures and slow growth can make the fruit even more delicious.

"Sometimes if it's too hot, they can look ripe, but the sugars haven't caught up," Mr Batinich said.

"So it's good growing conditions, but it's frustrating we don't have any fruit for people straight off the bat."

Mr Perrin, who works casually at a cherry orchard, has simple advice for anyone aspiring to take out the festival's pip-spitting crown.

"It's all about practising and being fit. For me, it was all in fun. I never dreamed I'd win."