Posted: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:00 am
Lebanon wasn't the first Oregon community with a Strawberry Festival. A local fruit inspector, W.E. Cooper, observed how similar events in Salem and Roseburg had increased berry acreage and construction of canneries in those cities. Prominent Lebanon businessman Joel C. Mayer, the “father of the Strawberry Fair," saw the festival as a way to promote downtown businesses as well as the strawberry industry in the rural area.
It is unknown how many acres of berries were grown around Lebanon in 1909, but records show that farmers planted about 600 acres in 1926. According to Oregon Department of Agriculture records, strawberry acreage in Linn County has bounced up and down since: 30 acres in 1939, 550 acres in 1959, 308 acres in 1978 and 180 acres in 1987.
In the 1940s, Kenneth Watters opened a strawberry processing plant on Gore Drive. He and his wife operated it until selling it to Dee Carter in the mid 1970s. Carter employed a couple of generations of Lebanon youngsters in his strawberry fields from the mid-1950s to late 1980s and in the processing plant for 15 years.
Today, more than 165 acres of strawberries are grown in all of Linn County, perhaps more than 175 acres, according to Ross Penhallegon, Oregon State University Extension Horticulturist. Some are commercial fields, with berries picked and shipped for the fresh market or for freezing and processing into jams and jellies. Others are U-pick fields for local strawberry fans.
Statewide, growers are projected to harvest about 2,000 acres of strawberries this year. According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon is third behind California and Florida in production.
Among June bearing plants, Hood and Shuksan are probably the most grown, Penhallegon said. The tasty Bentons and Totems also are grown, but the season is short, only three to five weeks.
Quinalt, an everbearing plant, is produced in a few fields, and new day neutral varieties - Tristar, Tillikum, Selva and Fern - are becoming more popular, he said. The day neutrals start producing in May and continue almost to mid-October.
Oregon strawberries are mostly picked by hand because they are a soft berry with a short shelf life.
Find local berries at Good and Miner's
Local fans of fresh strawberries can find them soon at Good and Miner's 5-acre berry patch north of town.
Eunice Miner said Friday that the berries are beginning to ripen. U-picks should be available this week, though it may be next week before picked berries are available.
U-pick berries cost 60-cents per pound. Picked berries are $15 for a crate or $1.25 per hallock. Bring your own container. Shallow containers are best to avoid crushing berries.
Hours are 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the month-long season.
About 25 part-time pickers help with the harvest.
The berry patch is located off Cemetery Road on the north edge of the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. When enough berries are available, they also will be available in the Evangelical Church parking lot on Park Street near Vine Street.