The Naramata Packinghouse video was transferred to DVD from Super 8 and is of unknown origin to the museum. It depicts the annual orchard events from preparing the trees for the growing season to the departure of the loaded boxcars to markets. The only person recognized by our older viewers was packinghouse manager, Mr. Alex Grant, who appears dressed in a suit jacket at the 11 minute, 20 second mark. Those viewers who had been employed at the packing house in their teen years remember earning for an 8-hour day in the early 1960s and how every apple was graded and individually wrapped in tissue paper. When not in use, the children of the village would build forts, playhouses and mazes from the huge stacks of fruit boxes. When village gatherings occurred, these same boxes were used for the attendees to sit upon. Six boxes is the standard stack used by the hand truck for transferring fruit. The upper floor of the packing house was the ‘cold’ storage as blocks of ice (cut from the lake in winter), were used to cool that space. Ice blocks were also loaded into the boxcars to help keep the fruit fresh on its way to market.
