British Columbia’s scenic Okanagan Valley has long maintained a reputation as an agricultural hub, especially where fruit-bearing orchards are concerned. Throughout the past 130 years, an industry and culture has evolved within the many communities lining its various lakes.
During the First World War (1914-1918) many of the region’s men were called off to fight overseas. Their absence was dearly felt in the fruit industry throughout the Okanagan. It was during this time that women stepped up to fill those many empty positions. Apples in particular, needed to be sorted, wrapped and packed manually, a task at which many women excelled.
Header image: Vernon Fruit Union packing crew with packing boxes in Oyama 1940 - courtesy of the Greater Vernon Museum & Archive
They became so efficient at their jobs, that contests sprung up within, and well beyond the Okanagan.
In 1937, a world-wide apple packing competition was held in Burmingham, England. A Kelowna woman, Isobel Stillingfleet, was chosen from a dozen local contenders to attend.
Isobel achieved the highest accolade of the entire competition, that of “Apple Queen of the British Empire.”
*image opposite: A.T. Howe packing house workers - courtesy of the Greater Vernon Museum & Archive
*image above: The Kelowna Courier, October 28th, 1937 - Courtesy of the Okanagan Valley Newspaper Group
Tiller’s Folly have released the latest single in their “Stirring Up Ghosts” series as a music video.
“The Apple Box Belles” paints a colorful picture of British Columbia’s Fruit Industry, it's History & Culture, as it exists in the Okanagan.
Preserving Arts, History, Heritage & Culture in today’s media-driven society requires a contemporary and dynamic approach. Enter the “Songumentary”
The “Songumentary” is an innovative new media platform combining music, virtual walk-throughs and archival imagery to provide historical and cultural context to each story.
Apple Box Belles
It was in the Lake Country ‘round Nineteen and Ten
The first crops of apples appeared
Between soil and sun, it didn’t take long
There were hundreds of thousands more trees
On packinghouse floors the box makers toiled
Nailing shook into 40lb crates
So the sorters and graders and packers could labour
Their way through the late Summer days
Sing me your song you Lake Country Girls
Those stories you cast like a spell
Let your voice ring and let everyone sing
A song for the Apple Box Belles
The First World War came, and it drew off the men
And a great call for labour rang out
And women, who’s place had once been in the home
Rose up with an answering shout
Through the packinghouse doors, by the dozens they poured
To take up their place in the line
Racing the clock earning three cents a box
One four-dollar-day at a time
Sing me your song you Lake Country Girls
Those stories you cast like a spell
Let your voice ring and let everyone sing
A song for the Apple Box Belles
A song for the Apple Box Belles
Some were wives of soldiers, making ends meet
Some were “Summer Girls” just taking wing
There were girls from Oyama and girls from Japan
And the Doukhobor girls loved to sing
Well, the packers took pride in the speed of their work
And a world competition arose
In 1937, those brisk Okanagan girls
Proved they were quicker than most
When a “Belle” Isobel, left for Birmingham, England
A world-wide contest to try
There she proved the best of the Apple Box Belles
Apple Queen of the British Empire!
Sing me your song you Lake Country Girls
Those stories you cast like a spell
Let your voice ring and let everyone sing
A song for the Apple Box Belles
Sing me your song you Lake Country Girls
Those stories you cast like a spell
Let your voice ring and let everyone sing
A song for the Apple Box Belles
A song for the Apple Box Belles
Words & Music by Bruce Coughlan (SOCAN)
