It was June 1997 when Chula Vista merchants decided to pay homage to their sour past via the inaugural Lemon Festival on Third Avenue.
The Lemon scene was “born” in Chula Vista in the late 1890s and early 1900s when National City developers realized the landscape south of their city was the perfect climate for growing lemons. The then recently completed Sweetwater Dam provided a stable source of irrigation for lemon orchards and lemon groves flourished. Production was bountiful and great. So great Chula Vista was regarded by growers as the lemon capital of the world.
The region enjoyed the designation for decades and it provided jobs for the desperate and displaced during the Great Depression.
When World War II started and the United States’ involvement included the Rohr Corporation establishing a defense plant here, it heralded the city’s transition from an agricultural hub to a factory town. The lots of land that had been used to grow lemon trees and provide housing for pickers were transformed into housing developments and neighborhoods where the city’s factory workers could settle in. By the 1960s the Lemon Capital had long fallen.
Now the Lemon Capital of the world is elsewhere, though not far. Mexico is considered the world’s top lemon and lime producer, though production this year will be down nearly 10 percent to 9.3 million metric tons.
California is still a prominent supplier though most of the yellow citrus is farmed in Fresno, Tulare, Kern, Ventura and Riverside counties.
While the lemon may not be the most popular citrus to be squeezed into glasses or used in desserts, the fruit is flexible. It lends itself to inspirational quotes—”When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”—, insults “That car’s a lemon” and rock music via The Lemonheads.
They, of course, are not to be confused with The Original Lemonhead, the gloriously processed and sour candy from Chicago.
Chula Vista’s place in lemon lore may have diminished over time but the city goes on celebrating one of the most versatile fruits on the planet.
It’s a sweet, worthwhile tradition.
