The Okanagan used to grow tobacco and even had a cigarette factory

There was a time when fruit was not the only thing grown in the Okanagan.

At one point, tobacco was an Okanagan crop to the point a cigarette factory was opened in the area.

Vernon-based historian and videographer Francois Arseneault has unearthed footage from 1960 showing the opening of such a factory.

“At one time, there were fields of tobacco grown around Kelowna. Tobacco farming was big business in early Kelowna. In 1894, Louis Holman introduced the growing of tobacco on the old Lequime place across from Leqime's blacksmith shop,” said Arseneault.

“In 1960, the dangers of cigarette smoking were largely unknown, the ground-breaking Surgeon General's Reports on Smoking and Health was still four years away. Smoking was still glamorous. That has all changed of course.”

Arseneault has an extensive collection of black and white footage he converts to a digital format, and not all of them come with very much information.

“I'm not sure where this factory was located or what is in its place today,” said Arseneault, who encourages people to leave comments on his Youtube page with any information they may have.

Anyone who may have old 16 mm or 8 mm film footage of the Vernon and Okanagan area is invited to email Arseneault at [email protected].