The 39th Annual Ozark Black Gold Walnut Festival in Alton will kick off this year’s walnut buying season. It will celebrate over seventy years of the local Strain/Mills family history of buying black walnuts.
The Beginning
Wallace and Viola Strain, Alton, started buying black walnuts in conjunction with their feed/livestock business in 1953. Steve Mills, the Strain’s grandson who now owns Mills Feed, formerly Strain Feed, said the original buying shed was located across the highway from the feed store. Mills pointed out the walnut tree in front of the old Fount Fry shop building where the hulling and buying shed stood. At that time, the Strains had livestock pens behind the feed store. Mills explained that they shipped livestock to St. Louis for local farmers and had freight hauled to Alton on the return trip. As commerce methods changed, the Strains replaced their livestock pens with the hulling and buying shed currently being used.
Fewer Walnuts
In the past, there were very few walnuts left to rot on the ground. Judy Mills, the Strain’s daughter, says that she remembers the lines of trucks and cars being backed up to the town square as people waited to sell their harvest. She said they would often buy until eight or nine o’clock at night. The top buying year was 1988, when the store bought 363,000 pounds at eight cents per pound. At that time, the store was owned by Judy and her husband, the late Norman Mills. Steve and Alice bought the business from his parents in 2000. They have continued throughout the years as buyers for the Hammons Products Company, Stockton, Missouri.
Memories
Laurel Johnson, one of this year’s festival organizers, said, “As a youth in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, I remember waiting in long lines to sell our walnuts. I, my brother Paul Young, along with Debbie Stubblefield and David Stubblefield spent almost everyday after school and time on the weekends picking up walnuts during the season. We always estimated how much we thought we would get per sackful. One of our parents would haul our burlap sacks to Strain’s where we were met by Wallace Strain’s smile that said he was just as proud for us as we were proud of ourselves. By the end of the season, we had enough money to buy Christmas gifts and have some spending money for the entire year. The stain on our hands was worn with pride. It was evidence of good work.”
This Year
Mills said that the buying season is short due to a surplus of walnuts last year. It will not begin until Monday, October 7, and will end on Sunday, October 20. The price? Twelve cents per pound!
Walnut Festival
The annual festival on court square in Alton will be held Saturday, October 5, with pre-festival events on Friday, October 4. Each year the festival features live music from area bands, food, arts and crafts, and game booths, and contests. A cruise-in, fun run, and street dance will be held on Friday. Festival t-shirts this year will celebrate the contribution of the Strain/Mills family to the community.
