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New Orchard Heritage Park seeks families for honor roll
By Shari Kaplan
After 10 years in the works, the Orchard Heritage Park Interpretive Exhibit (OHPIE) Alliance breaks ground on Santa Clara Valley's first exhibit depicting the area's agricultural history on May 13, during the third annual Orchard Heritage Blossom Faire in Sunnyvale.
The Blossom Faire, which runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Orchard Heritage Park at the Sunnyvale Community Center, Arboretum and Gardens, is a community celebration of the fruitful portents of spring and of the valley's past--more than a century of orchards, orchard industries and the people who made them their livelihood. This includes areas that now encompass Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Campbell, Saratoga, Los Gatos and San Jose.
The day includes a barbecue catered by Armadillo Willy's, an old-fashioned ice cream social by Baskin-Robbins, and music by the Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers and the Waybacks. Activities also include tours through and talks about the park's fruit orchard, clowns, activities for children, historical art and displays, a silent auction, a display of old-time vehicles, an OHPIE general store and book signings by valley authors and artists, including those who contributed to Valley of Heart's Delight.
The groundbreaking ceremony for OHPIE's open-air interpretive exhibit is at 11:30 a.m. Construction on the exhibit, designed to be a permanent, barn-like "living museum" begins June 1.
"I remember the planting of the orchards. In my family there were prunes, apricots, cherries, plums, the whole dessert thing. What I remember most about Santa Clara Valley's orchards was the hard work," says Burrel Leonard, who helped incorporate the city of Cupertino in the early 1950s. He was a founding general partner of Cupertino's Vallco Fashion Park and once ran an orchard that had been in his family for four generations. Leonard is also one of OHPIE's major benefactors.
OHPIE continues to encourage other orchard families to register for the Orchard Family Honor Roll, which will be on display once the exhibit is completed. About 325 families now are registered. Although the deadline for inclusion is the end of 2000, families are encouraged to register now.
The Orchard Heritage Park is at 550 E. Remington Ave. in Sunnyvale. Admission to the Blossom Faire is $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $5 for children in advance; or $30 and $25 for adults and seniors at the door, respectively. Children under 3 are admitted free.
For more information about the event, call 408.739.5004, or visit www.living-history.org/ohpie on the Internet. For information about the Orchard Family Honor Roll, call 408.264.6116.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
