For nearly 20 years, the Tri-Lakes area has sustained an almost obsessive love affair with one particular fruit, from one particular part of Colorado; Palisade Peaches.

On July 18, multiple destinations offered the famous fruit from Palisade, from one channel or another. While some offered them at local farmer’s markets, the Monument Hill Kiwanis executed its delivery of Palisade Peaches as a fundraiser for its foundation.

The peaches grown in Colorado’s Grand Valley have become a summertime tradition in the Tri-Lakes region, drawing hundreds of residents eager to enjoy one of the state’s most recognizable agricultural products while supporting local businesses and community organizations.

The Monument Hill Kiwanis Club has been selling Palisade Peaches as an annual fundraiser since 2000. This year’s pickup event was at Bear Creek Elementary School in Monument, where a steady stream of vehicles wrapped roughly halfway around the school throughout the morning.

Terry McMullen, who oversees the club’s peach fundraiser, said the event has become one of the organization’s most successful. Proceeds benefit the Monument Hill Kiwanis Foundation, which supports literacy initiatives, youth programs and other community projects throughout the Tri-Lakes area.

“In an organization like this, you go with what brings in the best money,” McMullen said. “You’ve got to go with what’s popular.”

McMullen said the popularity goes beyond simply buying peaches. Last year, the fundraiser was advertised as offering Colorado peaches, but customers quickly wanted to know something more specific.

“A little lady came up and asked me, ‘Are these Palisade Peaches?'” McMullen recalled. “I said, ‘Yeah.’ She impressed upon me that’s significant.”

Just a few miles away, the same Saturday morning, another crowd gathered across the Black Forest Farmers Market.

Audra McDowell, who operates The Farmer’s Daughter, lives in Monument but grew up on her family’s peach orchard in Palisade. The Farmer’s Daughter is a regular vendor at the Black Forest Farmer’s Market.

Her family has been growing peaches in Palisade for more than three decades, and she said the region’s unique climate is what gives the fruit its celebrated flavor.

“It’s the microclimate,” McDowell said. “It’s at least 15 degrees hotter than the Front Range most of the time. You get those really hot days and then the cold desert nights. That stress on the trees creates more flavor.”

This year’s crop survived what could have been a devastating spring freeze after an unusually warm winter caused peach trees to bloom weeks earlier than normal.

McDowell said growers relied on wind machines, orchard heaters known as smudge pots and what locals call the “Million Dollar Breeze,” which is a timely wind which mixes warmer air into the orchards before temperatures drop too low.

“It saved Palisade,” she said. “It saved the valley.”

While some orchards experienced losses, she said the Grand Valley’s unique geography once again proved why it remains Colorado’s premier peach-growing region.

Beyond the climate, McDowell believes peaches have become one of Colorado’s signature crops because they thrive where many other fruits struggle.

“They’re nature’s candy,” she said. “Colorado is a really hard place to grow things, but peaches are kind of our best produce that we can grow.”

Their versatility also contributes to their popularity. Families can eat them fresh, preserve them through canning, freeze them for smoothies and desserts, or make jams which last long after the harvest season ends, she said. This makes Palisade Peaches consistently appealing year after year, to attract such long lines of patrons, when compared to other popular Colorado produce like Olathe Corn and Rocky Ford Cantaloupe.

“You can eat them all winter,” McDowell said. “It tastes like summer sunshine in January.”

Among those waiting patiently in line for The Farmer’s Daughter’s produce that Saturday was Bailey Hooper of Peyton, who said supporting Colorado growers is part of the appeal.

“I think it’s just all the locals really wanting to support Colorado businesses and small businesses,” Hooper said.

She also offered a simpler explanation for why Palisade peaches continue to attract crowds year after year.

“They’re just super sweet,” she said.

Whether supporting a local nonprofit or buying directly from a family farm, Saturday’s crowds demonstrated that for many residents, a Colorado summer isn’t complete without a box of Palisade peaches.