naramata-blend

A long standing tradition in Naramata, almost every Easter a helicopter is enlisted to drop eggs onto Manitou Park for kids by our regional district. The kids come dressed up in costume or in their Easter finest. To prevent any eggcidents, the eggs are hollow plastic ones that when gathered up are exchanged for chocolate. The weather is also part of this tradition. It’s been a blue sky day for every egg drop I’ve attended.

Helicopters play a key role in area agriculture. Shortly after moving here I encountered a confusing scene that reminded me of the movie line,”I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Helicopters were hovering at many locations in the Valley. After some rookie Naramata questions to long-time residents I learned that our valuable cherry crops, (much of which ends up in China) needs saving from time to time. Talk about the cost of farming… Following rainy spells, helicopters are used to dry cherries at Valley orchards. Rain can cause cherries to split, and if that happens the fruit won’t be marketable. For from between $600 and $1,200 an hour, the cherries are quickly dried by the chopper blades as soon as possible before the sun comes out.

I can’t resist adding a link as a cautionary tale about what not to toss out of a helicopter. The infamous WKRP episode entitled, “As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly,” is a classic.