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A GREAT HISTORY MAKES FOR AN AWESOME FUTURE

For over 70 years, Grady Auvil led Auvil Fruit Company to be one of the pioneers in the growing and merchandising of apples in the Pacific Northwest. Best known among growers for his innovative production practices, much of Grady's success rested on a shrewd sense of market opportunities.


For instance, noting the vast amount of red apples on the market, Grady introduced the Granny Smith to Washington State.


The result was history.

In all of Grady's ventures the company was guided by a basic policy: to deliver superior dessert quality fruit to consumers. With boundless enthusiasm, Grady encouraged his fellow growers to adopt this policy. What distinguished Grady was that he saw this goal in terms of the whole process of production and marketing, from selecting varieties to the check-out counter. In doing so he moved the entire Washington apple industry one step closer to perfection.

GEE WHIZ LABEL

One day Grady and a friend were in the orchard talking about a new variety of peach Auvil Fruit Company was growing, the friend said "Grady, when people eat your fruit they say, Gee Whiz that is a good piece of fruit." Well, the rest is history. Below shows the labels Auvil Fruit Company has used in the past and present.

auvil fruit label 1 The first Auvil label was the start of the oval design, but did not include the words Gee Whiz.
   
Gee Whiz fruit label   First Gee Whiz Label
(click image to see larger version)
   
elite   Elite Label
(click image to see larger version)
     
Current Gee whiz label   Today's Gee Whiz Label

AUVIL FRUIT COMPANY TIMELINE


Year


Event

1928 Founding of Auvil Fruit
1941 Established Red Haven Peaches in the Northwest
1948 Introduced the use of grass cover in orchards
1950's Auvil Orchard replanted on higher ground after building of
Rocky Reach dam and development of Lake Entiat
1952 Demonstrated advantage of poplar windbreaks
1960 Introduced Red Gold Nectarine to Northwest
1968 Established Tree Fruit Research Commission
1972 First Commercial Plantings of Granny Smith apple in Washington State
1973 Pioneers use of M26 Rootstocks on apples
1975 First to successfully market Rainier cherries
1976 Introduced double-row planting of Granny Smith
1980 First new Granny Smith plantings at 1,000 acre orchard near
Vantage, Washington
1995 Completion of new $5 million packing warehouse and fruit storage
facility in Orondo
1998 Grady Auvil received Washington State's highest honor,
The Washington Medal of Merit by Governor Gary Locke
1999 First commercial production of the Auvil Early Fuji
2005 Introduced motorized picking platforms for better control and ease during harvest
2006 Inclusion of Honeycrisp apples in the Auvil program
2006 Introduced the new Aurora Golden Gala apple to the U.S. Market

PHOTOS FROM THE PAST - click on image to see large

Auvil Compressor Room Grady Auvil and Wife Auvil Cold Storage Auvil Ranch Ground Clearing Auvil Valley View
Auvil Home 1932 Auvil Pruning Auvil Sprayer    
photo gallery our friends