Ag's ethnic history put on display

California's second-largest farming county has found a way to pay tribute to both its agricultural and ethnic heritage in a long-term and dramatic way.

The Tulare County History of Farm Labor and Agriculture Museum will open in November in oak studded Mooney Grove Park near Visalia, as the park observes its 100th anniversary. The blossoming of the rich agricultural traditions of the county coincide with the park's existence.

Focal point of the recognition is a handsome new two-story building in the park with 17,000 square feet of ultramodern exhibit space. Planners and promoters of the project foresee it packed with antique farm equipment, photographs of early-day farms and the people who made them and the county prosperous.

For the next few years a different ethnic group prominent in the county's agricultural history will be featured in the museum for a three-to-six-month period. Local committees of each ethnic group are interviewing longtime residents about the family connections to agriculture, taping conversations and gathering photographs and memorabilia.

First to be featured is the Armenian connection. Groups to be honored later include blacks, Okies, Italians, Portuguese, Japanese, Native Americans, Germans, Dutch, Slavonians and more. Nothing in the planning suggests that Okies are a separate ethnic group, just an important segment of the agricultural labor force that arrived in three separate waves during the 20th century.

Kiosks, banners and interactive modules will be strategically located around the building as well as displays that typify the early farm lifestyle of each group featured. Planners and promoters are expecting school groups to flock to the displays and built-in teaching tools to the tune of 20,000 a year.

A theater-style room with surround sound will project filmed images and sounds that describe early-day farming, often supplied by heirs of the first settlers to Tulare County and the San Joaquin Valley.

Because of its location in the center of the San Joaquin Valley and its overwhelming mix of crops, Tulare County easily justifies the museum's location as typical of the entire San Joaquin Valley.

Assistance for the museum project came in the form of a $1.4 million grant in 2006 from the state through the library system. To go from grant to turn-key operation in 2 years is a phenomenal accomplishment. Perhaps because of slow economic times, several construction bids came in below estimates, with work completed ahead of schedule.

The only admission fees will be charged, currently, are $6 per car to enter Mooney Grove Park and $20 per busload of students visit the museum.

Coordinator for the Armenian delegation, which opens the curtain on the museum schedule is Sam Farsakian, who grew up on a Visalia walnut orchard. The property, still in his family, is now a shopping center. He promises to exhibit captivating instances of early 20th-century life near Yettem in northern Tulare County and elsewhere by escapees of the Turkish genocide.

Communities from the top to the bottom of California's vast agricultural empire have similar stories to show and tell about early settlers and their latter-day heirs. Building a state-of-the-art museum might not be on the agenda for each of them, but displaying that proud heritage in every way they can is something they owe to their current residents and communities. Tulare County is making a tremendous payment.

Don Curlee is an ag writer based in Clovis. His column appears biweekly. E-mail him at agwriter1@sbcglobal.net.