{"product_id":"vintage-red-wagon-crate-label-reedley-ca","title":"Vintage 1960s Red Wagon Fruit Crate Label 🍇 Reedley California Grape Label, Royal Valley Fruit Growers","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhy Is Reedley Called the World's Fruit Basket? 🍇 A Vintage 1960s Red Wagon Brand Fruit Crate Label, Royal Valley Fruit Growers, Reedley, California\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13\" x 4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aW48Z0QcK3I\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eA grinning boy in a striped shirt and green shorts, neckerchief flying, coasting along in a red wagon loaded with bunches of purple and green grapes - with RED WAGON in big red letters on a cream band across a magenta ground. The small print reads UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, REG. U.S. PAT. OFF, BRAND, ROYAL VALLEY FRUIT GROWERS ASS'N., REEDLEY, CALIFORNIA. It's unused - never pasted on a crate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 What that REG. U.S. PAT. OFF tells you\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat little registration notice up in the corner dates the label. The Patent Office's own record shows the Royal Valley Fruit Growers Association had been packing under RED WAGON since 1951 - that's the first-use year the association swore to in its filing - but it didn't register the name until much later: filed June 10, 1968, registered December 3, 1968, registration number 861,466, for fresh fruits, from the association's office at 1754 8th Street in Reedley. A label can only carry REG. U.S. PAT. OFF once the mark is registered, so this printing came off the press after December 1968, at the tail end of the 1960s - not the 1950s the old dealer listings give it. The registration ran until it lapsed, and was finally marked expired in 1992.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🍇 Royal Valley Fruit Growers\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe association packed fruit in Reedley under several brands - RED WAGON, POLAR BIRD with its penguin, ROYAL MOUNTAIN, ROYAL VALLEY and LAC JAC are all on its trademark list, and its sworn filings put RED WAGON in use from 1951 and POLAR BIRD from July 20, 1961, so the association was packing fruit under its own brands from the early 1950s. A grape grower's label like this went on the end of the shipping crate so a buyer back East could pick the brand out of a car full of fruit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🌳 Reedley, the World's Fruit Basket\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReedley, in the San Joaquin Valley southeast of Fresno, is named for Thomas Law Reed, a Civil War veteran who gave half his land to the township in 1888. In the early 1880s local ranchers pooled their money to bring Kings River water in by canal, and that water turned wheat country into grapes, figs and peaches. German Mennonite families came from Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Canada to farm it, and by 1909 the town already had two Mennonite churches. Reedley incorporated on February 18, 1913, and it still calls itself the World's Fruit Basket; the Reedley Museum keeps old wooden fruit crates, labels and all, on display.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🍇 About these labels\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery one I have is unused, 13 by 4 inches - a long one that looks great over a kitchen window, in a farmhouse kitchen, or with other California crate labels, and a natural for anybody from Reedley or Fresno County. The supply is finite - nobody's printing Red Wagon labels anymore, and once these last unused ones are framed, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-polar-bird-penguin-crate-label-reedley-ca\"\u003eVintage 1960s Polar Bird Brand Penguin Crate Label 🐧 Royal Valley Fruit Growers Reedley California A. Carlisle Co.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-gold-dredger-crate-label-yuba-city-ca-gold-rush-fever-history\"\u003eVintage 1950s Gold Dredger California Fruit Crate Label ⛏ H.J. Cheim, Yuba City CA, Gold Dredging History\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1930s-valley-queen-emperor-grapes-crate-label-exeter-ca\"\u003eAntique 1930s Valley Queen California Emperor Grapes Crate Label 🍇 — C. D. Pruner \u0026amp; Son, Exeter CA, Stecher-Traung\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43722999562472,"sku":"VAG-7939469345000","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4113112400_ce6v.jpg?v=1785358415","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-red-wagon-crate-label-reedley-ca","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}