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Looking Back


Glimpses of Okanagan agricultural history


By Wayne Wilson F


or decades, Kelowna’s north end was an industrial setting in every sense, and the top photo at right, taken during the autumn of 1928, shows something of the nature and dimensions of that industrial hearth. This scene is from the rooftop of what is now Flashbacks nightclub and it looks south along Ellis Street.


This is harvest time, and as far as the eye can see down Ellis, fruit-laden trucks and horse-drawn wagons were waiting to off-load their produce. Another clue to the dimensions of this agricultural trade is seen on the loading docks of the Laurel Packinghouse at the centre right of the photo. Here, apple boxes are stacked floor-to-ceiling awaiting the packing process. The Laurel was only one of dozens of such packinghouses up and down the Okanagan Valley, which offered up more than four million boxes of apples in the 1928 harvest season. Annual agricultural fairs were important to new farm settings for two main reasons. First, these fairs demonstrated to prospective settlers that the land was, in fact, productive and therefore worthy of their financial investment. Second, the fairs gave fruit shippers and sales agents an opportunity to attract buyers from both domestic and foreign markets. The lower shows Wally Mutch and Don Corbishley’s display at the New Westminster Exhibition in 1926. Their second-place win brought them a $400 prize.


This display also shows a rare and early connection between Okanagan agriculture and tourism. The background banner to this display touts Penticton not only as the “Hub of the Okanagan,” but as a tourist city renowned for its hunting and fishing. If you have photos or artifacts of our rich agricultural heritage, contact the B. C. Orchard Industry Museum at 778- 478-0347.


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