![]() The mugging further amplified the community’s sense of protectiveness over Garthe, who lives on his own following the death of his mother in 2013. We never take the bags out of the Open Space now, except when I sell at parades.” ![]() “It scared me (to come back after the assault),” says Garthe. A neighbor heard the commotion and came outside, scaring the men off. ![]() Three men punched Garthe multiple times as they attempted to wrestle his bags away. In 2006, Garthe - loaded with bags of pins and cash - was mugged as he walked home. He’s been a good luck charm to many he’s a dozen pins shy of selling his 10,000th gold pin and has sold grand prize winners nine times.īut for all its high points, Garthe’s journey has also hit some lows. “Everybody recognizes me and calls me Pin Man,” says Garthe. Garthe’s unflagging enthusiasm hits its peak during Cherry Festival week, when he’ll often log close to 80 hours hawking pins at the Open Space. “Peter is a treasure,” she says, calling the volunteer “one of the best people I know.” Grand Traverse County Commission Chair Christine Maxbauer is one such resident. Many community members look forward to the arrival of Garthe - decked in his iconic uniform of khaki shorts, red festival T-shirt, and blue pin bags - at their doorsteps each season. He goes from business to business selling pins, stopping at residences of friends and acquaintances. He rides across Grand Traverse County - from “Acme to Chums Corner to Greilickville," he says - in the weeks leading up to the Cherry Fest. Garthe’s physical limitations don’t stop the volunteer from putting 320 miles on his bicycle each year during pin pre-sales. He was in here recently, and the wheel was worn out on his bike because he was riding it so much. “We all keep an eye on him, and everybody knows him,” says Brick Wheels Owner Tim Brick, a friend who helps keep Garthe's bike - his main form of transportation - in working order. Those conditions - along with his contagious grin and outgoing personality - are among the reasons community members say they are protective and proud of Garthe. He has to monitor his physical health due to a heart bypass surgery he had as a child. He is thought to be on the autism spectrum, displaying a savant-like genius and memory for numbers. Garthe, now 57, is disabled, and relies on a hearing aid due to deafness caused by a ruptured eardrum. People have an expectation to buy their pin from Peter, and they won’t buy one from anyone else.” “He sells 1,500 pins before the festival even starts. “Peter is the whole experience of buying a pin,” says Cherry Festival Executive Director Trevor Tkach. His lifetime total now tops 204,000 pins sold he alone typically accounts for nearly a third of the 20,000 pins sold each year. The $500 cash prize for the top seller is a helpful incentive, he says, but there’s a much bigger relationship between Garthe, the festival, and community residents at play. ![]() Since 1993, Garthe has pummeled pin sales records. ![]() “I gave them to my parents for their 50th anniversary so they could fly to San Francisco.” After that, Garthe says with a smile, “nobody could match me." “I won the championship that year and got airline tickets ,” Garthe says. Just two years later, he notched his first sales win. Buyers who find a rare gold one in their envelope are entered into a drawing that includes big-budget prizes like luxury car leases, airline tickets, and big-screen TVs.Īfter winning a gold pin himself in 1990, Garthe got hooked on the program and volunteered the following year. The pins grant admission to festival areas like the beer tent. The longtime volunteer is the 23-time reigning champion in the festival’s annual commemorative pin sales program. Over the last 26 years, Peter Garthe has become the public face of the National Cherry Festival. ![]()
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