Kelly Rivas

Jack Cunningham, a University of La Verne sophomore, fills his bag with oranges, participating in the Heritage Park orange picking fundraiser, which is held every Saturday through March. Money raised will go toward keeping the last orange grove in La Verne running.

by Angie Gangi
News Editor

Under the shelter of the orange trees, time stood still. Children ran and played hide-and-seek with their shadows as the sunlight splashed through the tree tops. Lazy Saturdays picking sweet oranges in the orchard have begun again.

The La Verne Heritage Foundation has extended an open invitation to join in their annual orange picking fundraiser. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday until mid-March, the historic Heritage Park in La Verne will be open to the public and offer a look at one of the last working orange groves in the surrounding area.

Deena Benjamin brought her daughters, 7-year-old Laurel and 3-year-old Ariel, to enjoy the experience of hand picking their own oranges from the trees of a working 1915 citrus ranch.

“My girls probably would not have known that oranges don’t grow in the supermarket,” Benjamin said. “The oranges taste best right from the tree and there’s really no comparison to the ones in the stores.”

This trip back in time began at the front gate where the bags are sold at a small stand to the side of the orchard. One bag costs $3 and two bags cost $5. Along with the bags, visitors were given orange pickers to easily reach the highest oranges in the trees.

“Most people start with one bag,” orchard volunteer Betty Umland said. “But they come back asking for more bags because they are having so much fun using the pickers and playing between the trees.”

?Upland, who is married to Heritage Foundation Vice President Willard Upland, is one of the foundation’s 34 volunteers whose efforts help to raise money for the preservation of La Verne’s rich past.

All proceeds from Heritage Foundation fundraisers go toward projects that focus on the preservation of La Verne’s history. Picking oranges beside the life-long residents were curious new residents like Lena and Albert Sauri, who saw the orchard advertised in the paper.

“We have a small orange tree in our backyard but we thought we would see what the rest looked like,” Albert Sauri said. “I didn’t know there were so many trees here, I thought there were just a couple.”

The orchard is home to an estimated 100 trees that include Navel and Valencia orange, grapefruit and one lemon tree.

The Spring Squeeze is the next fundraiser planned for the orange orchard, which will begin on March 7 and continue until March 17. Kids from local schools are invited to pick and squeeze the Valencia oranges, which are used for juicing. Once the juice is made, the children will plant the seeds from their oranges and learn about the cycle of a plant.

For many, leaving the orchard was the hardest part of the day. The unmistakable smell of the oranges leaves with each person as they carried their bags of orange fruit home. The old tractors rest in the orchard after years of hard work, and reality sets in that life is busy and doesn’t always smell as sweet as the oranges.

Angie Gangi can be reached at agangi@ulv.edu.