Only five people have served as executive directors of the National Cherry Festival in its 89-year history. In this week's Northern Express - sister publication of The Ticker - the festival's three most recent leaders sit down together for a first-ever roundtable discussion about the event's past and future.

As Tom Menzel, Tim Hinkley and Trevor Tkach can attest, running the National Cherry Festival comes with high expectations - and a laundry list of logistical and operational challenges. When Menzel came on board in 2006, the organization was on the brink of bankruptcy. "I don't think there was an awareness among some about the serious financial trouble at the time," he recalls. Menzel also had to cut the festival's popular Heritage Parade, a move that earned him a lot of heat, even causing one individual to spit on him in the street. "If you're a change agent, you always keep your resume in your right lapel," Menzel acknowledges. "It's high risk."

Hinkley faced his own challenges when he took over the top post in 2008, including newly emerged summer competition in the form of the Traverse City Film Festival and Traverse City Beach Bums. "That was a key thing; we had no competition, and then all of the sudden there was (those two organizations)," Hinkley says. But the different area offerings ultimately forced the National Cherry Festival to adapt and offer new attractions, improving the festival experience. "It actually I think has made the Festival much better," Hinkley says.

Since Tkach took over in 2012, focus has now been on evolving the event for a new generation, including trying to "reconnect locally with that local pride," he says. "Trying to keep our audiences engaged with smaller programming like street buskers...music performers during lunches down at the Open Space...working with Taste the Local Difference on food events that are locally sourced," Tkach says. Could the beloved Heritage Parade also make a return someday? "If there's a lot of interest and financial backing, we could look at it," Tkach says. Check out more in this week's cover story, "Top Cherries: Current, Past National Cherry Festival Leaders Look Back, Forward."

Also in this week's Northern Express: a history of air shows at the National Cherry Festival; a round-up of visitor-friendly working farms in the region to tour this summer; an inside look at the workings of the newly renamed Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities (formerly the Michigan Land Use Institute); a preview of the upcoming Interlochen Shakespeare Festival - and much more! Check out the Northern Express online, or pick up a free copy at one of more than 600 distribution spots across 13 counties. And, stay connected throughout the week on Facebook.