General Archives | Page 4 of 6 | Applebox Belles: The Women of Lake Country’s Packinghouses

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, […]

Vernon Fruit Union, Oyama, 1914

The Vernon Fruit Union packing crew and their families, 1914. Back Row: Winnie Brown, Mrs. Curfoot, Charlie Phillips, Alec Philips, Sam Tyndall Front Row: Floyd Whipple, Ted Fudge […]

Vernon Fruit Union packinghouse, Oyama, 1940s

The sorting line at the Vernon Fruit Union packinghouse, Oyama, 1940s.

Bernice Gunn, 2007

Bernice Gunn demonstrates apple packing.

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

Winoka Cooperative Exchange staff, 1946

Winoka Cooperative Exchange staff, Okanagan Centre, October 10th, 1946. Ann Cook, Curly McDonald, Edie Gibbons, Helen Lidstone, Mrs. French, Joyce Buckley, Bryan Cooney, Minnie Dehnke, Norm Simpson, Hiroshi […]

Bernice Gunn, 1956

Bernice Gunn packed at the Winoka Cooperative Exchange packinghouse in Okanagan Centre for thirty five years until its closure in 1974. Bernice mentored many of the younger belles, […]

Packing in the orchard

Robert Allison packing apples in his orchard in Oyama, 1925.

Winnie Draper and Alice Draper, Winfield, 1937

“We used to get 3¢ a pack. Now they wouldn’t even put one apple in for 3¢. Well, in those days, they were the big apple boxes and […]

Apple boxes

The size of the standard apple box was 10 x 11 x 20 inches, inside measurement. When fully packed it contained 40 pounds of apples for a total […]

Okanagan Centre, 1948

Main Street, Okanagan Centre, 1948. The packinghouse had an overhead conveyor which transported the boxed apples from the packinghouse to the storage facility across the road.

Vernon Fruit Union packinghouse, Oyama, 1931

The first attempt to unionize packinghouse workers took place in the 1930s but was unsuccessful due to the surplus of available workers.