Featuring a pink blush over a yellow background, WA 64 combines qualities of Honeycrisp and Cripps Pink (aka Pink Lady) for a firm, crisp, sweet and tart bite. A naming contest for the new apple runs through May 5, 2024. (Photo provided by Washington State University)

Featuring a pink blush over a yellow background, WA 64 combines qualities of Honeycrisp and Cripps Pink (aka Pink Lady) for a firm, crisp, sweet and tart bite. A naming contest for the new apple runs through May 5, 2024. (Photo provided by Washington State University)

Hey Honeycrisp, this new breed of apple needs a name

Enter a naming contest for WA 64, a hybrid apple with the same baby daddy as Cosmic Crisp.

EVERETT — This good-looking apple needs a good name.

For 20 years, the hybrid developed by Washington State University has been known as WA 64. Not fitting for an attractive pink-blushed apple that’s firm and tasty.

The fruit is the offspring of Honeycrisp and Pink Lady apples.

“We’re looking for a name that’s memorable and punchy,” Jeremy Tamsen, a WSU apple spokesperson, said in a news release.

The winner gets bragging rights and a box of apples, but no royalties. Other prizes include Cougar Gold cheese, WSU spice rubs, charcuterie board, coffee cup and water bottle.

Tamsen said the ideal name should play on the apple’s qualities or draw a connection with Washington, where WA 64 will be exclusively grown for at least the next 10 years.

No mash-ups of the parents’ names, please. No “Honey Pink” or “Pink Crisp” and such. Pink Lady is the trademark name for Cripps Pink apples.

Apple science is a big deal at the Pullman campus and for the state.

“It’s taken more than two decades to bring WA 64 from a single tree to release,” Tamsen said. “We hope it makes a big splash in the market, but we need the right name.”

The apple is small to medium, with much of the surface a pink-hued blush over a yellow background.

“WA 64 is a great balance of tart and sweet, firm, crisp, and juicy,” said Kate Evans, professor and head of WSU’s apple breeding program. “In taste tests, people prefer its texture to Cripps Pink — it’s crisper.”

WA 64 was first bred in Wenatchee in 1998 and trialed at research orchards in the state. Trees will be available to growers in 2026. Plans are for the apple to reach grocery stores in 2029.

This is the apple breeding program’s 64th apple to move into the second of a three-phase process of selection. Hence the name WA 64.

The last juicy starlet of Washington’s apple universe was Cosmic Crisp, which has the same Honeycrisp baby daddy as WA 64.

The bi-color apple with tiny speckles was coined by consumer testers.

“Someone said, ‘Gosh, it looks like the night sky,’ and somebody else said, ‘Oh, like the cosmos.’ And it’s a Honeycrisp cross, so somebody said, ‘How about Cosmic Crisp?’” Kathryn Grandy, spokesperson for Proprietary Variety Management, the company marketing Cosmic Crisp, told The Daily Herald in 2019.

You must be at least 18 to enter the naming contest at wsu.edu/wa64contest. Deadline is May 5. Limit one name per person.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Pharmacist Nisha Mathew prepares a Pfizer COVID booster shot for a patient at Bartell Drugs on Broadway on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett lawmakers back universal health care bill, introduced in Olympia

Proponents say providing health care for all is a “fundamental human right.” Opponents worry about the cost of implementing it.

Outside of the updated section of Lake Stevens High School on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Lake Stevens, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lake Stevens, Arlington school measures on Feb. 11 ballot

A bond in Lake Stevens and a levy in Arlington would be used to build new schools.

Lake Stevens Sewer District wastewater treatment plant. (Lake Stevens Sewer District)
Lake Stevens sewer district trial delayed until April

The dispute began in 2021 and centers around when the city can take over the district.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

Devani Padron, left, Daisy Ramos perform during dance class at Mari's Place Monday afternoon in Everett on July 13, 2016. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Mari’s Place helps children build confidence and design a better future

The Everett-based nonprofit offers free and low-cost classes in art, music, theater and dance for children ages 5 to 14.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

A salmon carcass lays across willow branches in Edgecomb Creek on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Tribes: State fish passage projects knock down barriers for local efforts

Court-ordered projects have sparked collaboration for salmon habitat restoration

The Everett Municipal Building on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Everett council approves $111 million construction of sewer project

The Port Gardner Storage Facility, in the works for more than a decade, will help prevent overflows of the city sewer system.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.