"Ficksburg" Ficksburg by mvtouring

All I knew about this little town in the Free State Province, was that it has a big annual cherry festival. So I wanted to go and see what all the hype was about.
Ficksburg is a small town situated at the foot of the 1,854m Imperani Mountain. Ficksburg, after Bethlehem, South Africa (the chief administrative town) is the second busiest and important town in the Eastern Free State region of the Freestate province. Its an important agricultural region of the Free State where crops like corn and mealies (maize) are grown. The most important part of the annual crop of Ficksburg is the harvesting of the cherries on the numerous cherry farms surrounding the town. The cherries are harvested from October to December. Annually in November the Cherry Festival is held. The festival stretches over 3 days and attracts up to 30,000 people.
The town also has a wide variety of well established upmarket and luxurious guesthouses and B&Bs and an exclusive 3-star hotel serves as luxurious accommodation for tourists visiting the town. The hotel has an exclusive French-style restaurant which serves world class cuisine. The region is also known as the asparagus region of South Africa. Hundreds of tons of asparagus are harvested from September. Other kinds of fruit like peaches, apricots, cherries and apples are also grown in the region. Livestock is also an important industry in the region. There are numerous dairy farms in the countryside.