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

Before the strike – Applebox belles at the loading dock, 1940s

Vernon Fruit Union, Oyama.

Inez Kenney with three other belles at the Oyama packinghouse

Applebox belles at the Vernon Fruit Union packinghouse, Oyama, 1937. Inez is the second woman from the right.

Effie Smith, Alice Draper, Winnie Draper, Mary Draper, Winfield 1937

Applebox belles on their day off.

Winfield packinghouse

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

Nora, Yoshi, and Kate, 1948

Nora Carter, Yoshi Kobayashi, and Kate at the Okanagan Valley Land Company camp, 1948.

Doukhobor Girls, 1957

Five of the summer girls at the Woodsdale packinghouse, October 9th, 1957.

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

Okanagan Valley Land Company sorters, 1937

The sorters of the Okanagan Valley Land Company packinghouse, Okanagan Centre, 1937. Left to right: Back row: unknown, unknown, unknown, Ted Nuyens, unknown, Pam Wentworth Front row: Nellie […]

Summer Girls

Left to right: Bea Smorden, Joyce Bell, and Eleanor ‘Jimmie’ Price, 1947.

Applebox Belles, 1940s

Applebox belles on the packing line at the Vernon Fruit Union, Oyama 1940s.

Staff of the Okanagan Valley Land Company packinghouse, Okanagan Centre, October 15th, 1948

Square dancing party near the Woodsdale packinghouse, 1950s

The packinghouses fostered this camaraderie by holding dances each harvest season for the workers and their families, and in later years, dinners.