PALISADE - Carol Zadrozny doesn't mind if you savor cherries, apples and pears. Just as long as you're in love with peaches - every variety that graces the magical orchards of Palisade. That devotion must last from late June's harvest to early October, when the last gems are plucked from the tree and the longing for the next season's crop takes hold.

Zadrozny co-owns Palisade's Z's Orchard with her husband, Richard Skaer. The orchard has been in production since the turn of the 20th century, and Zadrozny has been an owner for 33 years. She was happily ensconced in bags and boxes of peaches at her stand at the annual Palisade Peach Festival this month, offering juicy slices of the fruit and chatting with festival-goers about the 18 peach varieties she grows.

Palisade, a Mesa County storybook of a town along Interstate 70, is at the east end of the Grand Valley, where the Colorado River emerges from DeBeque Canyon as if on permanent cue. Soaring backdrops formed by the Grand Mesa and the Book Cliffs frame verdant topography that provides ideal conditions for peaches, grapes and other crops.

In peach season, even the town's smallest homes sport a peach tree or two in the yard, like talismans, and peachy aromas waft into open car windows. The scent is made more intense as the orchards come into view, their fruit dangling enticingly and earring-like from the trees.

The festival, thought to emanate from "Peach Days" of the late 1800s, is a cornucopia of events, including historical Palisade walking tours, a parade, a peach jam-making session for kids, a peach-eating contest and orchard tours.

Members of the area 4-H club host the amateur peach-recipe contest, carefully doling out sample bites in exchange for 50-cent tickets. Each restaurant and cafe in town adds peach-infused dishes to its menu, and peach stands dot the town.

"The peach-growing season is so much longer than it used to be, and it's because of advances in agriculture technology," Zadrozny says. "We have this little niche with hot days, cool nights and good drainage in our soil. We have an old, established irrigation system, and so we have first call for irrigation from the Colorado River."

The peach industry put Palisade on the map, she says, and her goal is to ensure that anyone who steps up to her stand gets a taste of a tree-ripened Palisade peach.

"We have a lot of fun, and I love telling visitors about what happens in the valley and how the peaches are grown. It's assumed that everyone knows all about peaches, but I've been surprised to discover that many people don't even know if peaches grow on bushes or trees. It's great to be able to share my knowledge with them."

For cooking aficionados, the Peach Cuisine With Colorado Chefs events were the highlight of this year's festival. Under a white-canopied tent, seats were filled for several demonstrations, the spectators watching eagerly as local chefs created Palisade Peach Chutney, Peach Mango Salsa and Crepes, Summer Peach Cantaloupe Soup and other tantalizing peachy fare.

"This area is starting to make a name for itself for good food," says Terry Allen, executive chef of Paradox Grill at Gateway Canyons. "We're already called the Banana Belt of Colorado because of our climate. I just love that the Palisade peaches are so abundant, really refreshing and mouthwatering, especially on a hot summer day."

The versatility of peaches is what attracts adventuresome cooks, he says.

"They're great for baking, making salsas, juices, purées and smoothies," Allen says. "We're lucky enough to have them, and I use them whenever I can, adding them to beef, buffalo, fish and lamb dishes such as our Grilled Colorado Lamb With Warm Palisade Peach Chutney."

The first time Scott and Theresa High attended the Palisade Peach Festival, they felt as if they'd stepped back in time about 50 years to small-town Americana. The Highs are proprietors of High Country Orchards, a 96-acre, cinematic orchard overlooking the Colorado River. The operation harvests 16 peach varieties and ships them around the globe, as well as locally to King Soopers, Whole Foods and Tony's Meats.

Now is the time to buy good peaches, Scott High says.

"I grew up in Denver, and every year my father made the annual summer sojourn to Palisade, so I knew of the peaches when I was small, and I knew they were the best. Palisade is four hours from Denver, and it's a little bit of heaven."