Lions Park Action Committee member Kathleen Molloy (left) promotes the Picker’s Appreciation Picnic slated for Thursday, June 23. Photo by Dan Walton
In hopes of easing the contention between seasonal fruit pickers in Oliver and the year-round residents, the Lions Park Action Committee (LPAC) is inviting everyone in the community to a picnic next week.
For her second year, Karie Zoé Brisebois came to Oliver from Quebec to pick cherries for the summer. She loves living and working in the Okanagan and has a strong network of friends among fruit pickers, but she doesn’t feel entirely welcome in the community.
“They hate us,” she said of the full-time residents.
Brisebois said she’ll be at the picnic, but she’s a little skeptical over whether the event will be successful in mending ties.
LPAC volunteer Kathleen Molloy feels like complaints against fruit pickers have reached the level of hysteria.
“What are we going to do about the young?” she parodied. “They’re polluting our park; they’re fornicating; they’re defecating.”
Molloy has been living in Oliver for the past 10 years, though she hasn’t actually witnessed any fornication or defecation.
“I couldn’t live here without the annual influx of young people who breathe a little life into our town,” she said.
In a conversation with the local youth about their francophone counterparts, Molloy was told the two groups do not intertwine.
“They’re dirty; we’re us,” she was told.
“That’s a real loss – cultural contact is how hybrids, pollination and weird things come together.”
She added that young Quebecers seem to be strongly engaged in politics, and “a little dose of that here wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Molloy concedes that higher levels of shoplifting and petty crime coincide with the fruit picking season, but she believes the best mitigation to those problems is by proactively reaching out to the pickers and showing them admiration.
“We want to let them know that we wouldn’t be able to buy our trucks, go on our cruises and pay our mortgages if you guys weren’t here.”
The notion of young people coming to Oliver to “live it up” each summer has become predictably routine, and Molloy finds it unrealistic to hope enough resentment will prevent transients from coming to town.
She said the LPAC’s mandate is to promote the park for everyone, with equal priority for full-time residents, transient workers and tourists alike.
Beyond the value they bring to the community in a single season, Molloy said some francophones have made lifetime investments in the Okanagan after discovering the area as a seasonal worker. She exemplified the Brind’Amours, former fruit pickers from Quebec who now own the Forbidden Fruit Winery in Cawston.
“Now they have an orchard and a winery,” she said. “They had kids here, and grandkids now.”
Mackenzie Irvine, youth liaison for LPAC, said that by showing appreciation towards seasonal workers, they’re more likely to act as respectful members of the community.
“They won’t feel as much like outsiders,” she said.
Irvine feels as though some full-time residents are out of touch with reality in expressing strife against fruit pickers.
“They’re too concerned about what might happen, they don’t seem aware of what’s actually going on.”
Even though it’s called the Picker Appreciation Picnic, all members of the community are encouraged to attend.
Many Quebecers will be familiar with the event’s entertainment, musician Alain Peddie, who’s a member of the popular French band Kaliroots. And opening for Peddie will be local DJ Cole Wilson.
Supper is part of the afternoon with a free barbecue, and haircutting tools will be buzzing for any pickers in need of a trim.
There’s no cost to attend, and the event runs from 3 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 23. Eager volunteers can call Natalie at 250-498-4985.
By Dan Walton
