Historical Images at the Vinery

The Vinery Open House

Sunday, May 30, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

 

We are hosting the Vinery’s Open House on Sunday, May 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Attend the public opening of the Vinery and the first day of our new ‘Skagit Valley Farmers’ Market at Christianson’s’. Please come for one, come for the other, or, come to celebrate both!

 

As a crowning touch in our restoration of the Vinery, Brenda Cornett, our special projects coordinator, and ‘How It Works’ in Anacortes have been working together to take various photos from our Christianson’s Nursery collection and the Skagit Valley Museum’s collection of old photos of pea farming and processing in the Valley and produce much larger images which now hang in our new Vinery location just north of the Nursery. The original pictures, while very important to Skagit Valley’s agricultural history, had many issues that made them unusable for enlarging to hang in the Vinery – some glossy, some matte, some black and white, some sepia, some out of focus, and some otherwise damaged. How It Works was able to work their magic and a mixed lot of images are now enlarged, some as big as 26” x 40”, all sepia, all-matte, all in focus, and all restored to professional quality. We are always impressed with the ability of this Anacortes business to turn the vision of what we want, compared to what we have in front of us, into reality.

 

Below are examples of permanent historical images hung inside the Vinery to be viewed by the public for the first time during our Open House at the Vinery.

 

Image #1: Pea vining station on the Flagg Farm next to Christianson’s Nursery on Best Road (located on the current property of the Vinery), early 1960s.

 

Image #2: Pea harvesting near the Armstrong Pea Vining Station on Chillberg Road near La Conner.  The peas are destined for Pictsweet Foods facility (formerly Bozeman Canning Company) in Mount Vernon, 1951.

 

Image #3: A horse-drawn pea stacker on the Scott Armstrong Farm (now Messman Farm) near La Conner.  Ika Island in the background, 1928.