THE MAGIC VALLEY

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the story of apples in washington's wenatchee valley began five million years ago when the world ached with growing pains on the floor of a valley sheltered by the young cascades were spread layers of rich lava and volcanic dust nature next installed a salubrious climate then sat back to her knitting to await that curious two-legged creature man snow fed waters were tumbling down the cascades into rivers and streams veining the valley and man tapped these life-giving reservoirs early settlers trained the waters to flow at their will over the fertile land irrigation was the key to magic making in a region once thought to be hopeless desert and with irrigation came more sectors the planting of great orchards in the beginning of an industry in the wenatchee area which today produces one-fifth of all the apples grown in the world [Music] okanagan smith saw nothing like this when his eyes first swept the valley yet he might have envisioned as he planted the great grandparent trees of the apple industry in the pacific northwest a day when the wondrous soil would grow more than sagebrush and despair when those who would follow him would see it as it is today a veritable magic valley [Music] when it's apple blossom time in washington the wenatchee valley is a gigantic bouquet of glorious pink and white blooms and the mountain air is perfume conditioned by 35 000 acres of blossoms here's a grand place for a honeybee convention and speaking of honey or honeys how are these just two orchard sprites gathering sprigs of fragrance for an old wenatchee ritual the apple blossom festival hmm looks like the apple industry has gone hollywood an apple blossom festival isn't official without a queen and every spring when the valley is blossom banked a lucky young lady is proclaimed queen she reigns through a period of gay and colorful pageantry in honor of king apple ah here comes her majesty for the coronation ceremony which tradition dictates must be held under the bloom laden bowels in the royal party are princesses indian chiefs and maidens [Music] while the chieftain beats the tomtom young redskins reenact an old indian dance meant to woo the favor of the gods for a good growing season and abundant harvest the queen receives her crown from governor clarence d martin of washington who pays tribute with a lusty smack on the lips oh hum that's one of the trials i suppose of being a governor but it's part of the fun like the big festival parade [Music] yes sir everyone loves the parade and the one which opens wenatchee's apple blossom festival lures spectators from throughout the pacific northwest mama papa all the kids and the family pooch have a grand time hearing the music and seeing the floats as the parade rolled through the gately decorated streets of the apple capital of the world [Music] not far from wenatchee his man's mightiest work grand coulee dam across the columbia river when the gigantic dam is completed it will add two and a half million horsepower to the state's electric supply and provide water for a million two hundred thousand acres of exceedingly fertile but now arid washington land [Music] for all scotsman from friendly canada give an international flavor to the festival and their nocturnal bagpipe serenades keep many awake [Music] foreign