OROVILLE – The historical importance of the local olive industry will be celebrated with food, crafts and fun at the 13th Annual Butte County Olive Festival on Saturday.
Hosted by the Butte County Historical Society this event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., will be held in the Old Courthouse Park across the street from the Ehmann Home, 1480 Lincoln St. Admission to the event is free.
“We host the event to remind and educate people about the importance Olives played in the economy of Oroville,” said Nancy Brower, Butte County Historical Society board member. “It’s also a feel-good event for the community; a chance to see friends and neighbors; support local businesses that will be vending; and, to support the historical society and its many projects.”
The festival celebrates all things olives with abundant olive and olive oil tastings from local growers and producers. Nearly 25 vendors will also be selling goods including yard art, jewelry and clothing. Lincoln Boulevard will be closed between Robinson and Bird streets for public safety and to make room for food vendors including Sweetwater Shaved Ice, Will’s Catering and Dave’s Dam Dogs and Burgers.
The Olive Festival is the society’s largest fundraising event of the year. Though admission to the event is free, the society will be selling books and olive products from the Olive Pitt including black olives, a variety of green olives and spicey green beans and pickled asparagus.
A raffle with gift baskets and other prizes donated by attending vendors as well as from Feather Falls Casino, Bell-Carter Olive Products, Sohnrey Foods and Home Depot will also benefit the BCHS.
“It’s a fun day,” said Brower. “And based on the gifts donated last year, the raffle prizes will be really nice too.”
Members of the historical society will be conducting tours at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. of the first floor of the historic Ehmann Home. Tours will include viewings of the parlor, maid’s room and the dining and living rooms.
“Even after all these years we get people on the tour who have never seen the Ehmann Home and love it,” said Brower. “They are totally fascinated by the house, how the rooms are set up. It was a different mode of living in those days and the tour gives people a chance to look into the past and see what people’s lives were like.”
The Ehmann Home was built by Freda Ehmann, who could be considered the “mother of the ripe olive canning industry,” and her son Edwin Ehmann in 1911. It is the only surviving reminder of the once impressive Ehmann Olive Company presence in Butte County, after the company factory located on West Lincoln Street burned down in 1947.
The craftsman bungalow-style home is need of major repairs where dry rot has taken its toll. The home’s electrical infrastructure is also in need of repair and upgrade. The plumbing was a problem but within the past few years the historical society has raised and spent more than $15,000 for its repair.
In order to make the necessary repairs and to apply for grants to help fund those repairs, the BCHS is having blueprints of the home drawn by a local civil engineer.
“We need to know structurally what’s there before we go ripping into the walls to fully assess the damage and determine the cost for repairs,” said Brower. “Most of the problems seem to be in the additions added by the county when they owned the building and used it for office from the 1930s to the 1980s. The original house is in good shape but those additions have not withstood the test of well.”
The Ehmanns favored fruit from the Fogg Orchard for the canned olives they distributed throughout the United States as well internationally to Britain, Germany, France and New Zealand. What is left of the grove lies between the Feather River Fish Hatchery, Table Boulevard and Grand Avenue on the bluff overlooking the Feather River. Most of the grove including the concrete foundation of the pickling plant Freda Ehmann first used in Oroville has been demolished or torn out. The historic concrete markers that stood at the grove’s entrance were removed and installed in front of the Ehmann home in April.
Thee Butte County Historical Society has 400 members who maintain the society’s museum, archives, Ehmann Home, Bangor Church and Oregon City School. All proceeds from the Butte County Olive Festival support the preservation of these historic buildings, their contents and the availability of all archived records information to the public.
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