Commercial Archives | Applebox Belles: The Women of Lake Country’s Packinghouses

Okanagan Centre, 1930s

Gleed’s Store in Okanagan Centre during the Depression.

Winfield packinghouse

The staff of the Vernon Fruit Union, Winfield, October 20th, 1955.

Applebox Belles at the Woodsdale packinghouse, 1940s

“We really got on with each other, even though there were so many different characters. There were so many memories.” Winnie Heyworth, 2012

Seaton packinghouse

Jack Seaton opened his first packinghouse in 1919. It was located near his orchard on Camp Road.

The packinghouse crew of the Vernon Fruit Union, Oyama, 1920s

The Vernon Fruit Union operated a packinghouse in Oyama from 1913 to 1974.

Vernon Fruit Union, Oyama, 1940

At the packinghouse fruit was sized and graded and apples considered not suitable for market due to bruises, blemishes, or poor colour were culled. In the early years, […]

Packinghouse crew at Okanagan Centre, October, 1928

Left to right: Unknown, Malcolm Douglas, unknown, unknown, Ivy Fallow, J. W. Cole, Charlie Draper, unknown, Cliff Fallow, Alice Crowder, Sadie Rutt, Mrs. Rutt

The packing line at the Vernon Fruit Union, Winfield, early 1940s

As each packer completed her pack she stamped her number on the end of the box. This formed the basis for payment.

The sorting line at the Vernon Fruit Union, Winfield, early 1940s

The belles normally worked ten hours a day. Sorters were paid by the hour, earning less than $15 per week.

Women at work in the Woodsdale packinghouse, 1944

Grandmothers Helping to Pack Fruit Crop Grandmothers, schoolgirls and housewives have joined forces at Kelowna to play a big role in this year’s bumper apple crop. Clad in […]

The Okanagan Valley Land Company, 1910

The Okanagan Valley Land Company planted thousands of acres of orchards in Lake Country. The main office was located near the wharf in Okanagan Centre.