Cherry Festival of Sefrou

A town and its fruit

For three days each June, the people of Sefrou celebrate the natural and cultural beauty of their region, symbolised by the cherry. The festival was founded in 1919; in 2026 it reached its 102nd edition. It was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012.

The Cherry Queen and the parade

Each year a Cherry Queen is chosen in a pageant that draws competitors from the region and from all over Morocco. The high point of the festival is a parade of performing troupes, rural and urban music, majorettes and bands, and floats carrying local producers. At its centre rides the Cherry Queen, ornately dressed and surrounded by attendants, offering cherries to the onlookers.

Made by the whole town

UNESCO describes a festival to which the whole population contributes: craftswomen make silk buttons for traditional dresses, fruit growers supply the cherries, local sports clubs hold competitions, and music and dance troupes fill the days. Young people are drawn into the work so that the tradition carries on.

The organisers present the festival as a celebration of the tolerance and coexistence between the different cultural and religious communities of this old town, and of its crafts and local produce.