Valley of the Flowers or Lompoc Valley
is 9 miles from the Pacific Ocean along scenic Pacific Coast Highway 1
and Highway 246."Lompoc" (pronounced lom-poke) is a Chumash Indian word
meaning lake or lagoon and was named by the region's early settlers whose
history dates back 10,000 years.
Long known for its lovely, seasonal flower blooms that grow so well in
the lush valley kept pleasant by the Pacific Ocean, Lompoc also holds claim
to missile launches at Vandenberg Air Base. Whenever a launch is planned,
several local beaches are cleared for safety's sake.
And while the flowers aren't seen in the massive quantities and visual
displays that once filled Lompoc fields each May, the missile launches
continue on a regular basis in a city that once hoped to get the space
shuttle. Old photographs around town remind locals and visitors of the plans
that were dashed when the contract wasn't awarded to Lompoc decades ago.
It's taken quite some time for the city to bounce back, but new housing
construction and the popularity of the location have turned Lompoc into a
popular destination where you can visit the Mission La Purisima Concepcion,
you can golf, take strolls, and look at the wall and building murals.
According to a member of the Lompoc
Mural Society, Lompoc was the mustard capitol of the world in the 1920's.
The mustard was cut and sent to France where it was turned into many varieties
of edible mustards. Today, the hills on the edge of town are still covered
in mustard in spring time.
In the 1930's, Lompoc was the apple capitol but flowers
gained control of the valley and have reigned supreme for over 50 years.
Grown primarily for their seeds, the flowers are colorful and fragrant
and are celebrated in annual festival in which the city heralds their arrival
with a parade and flower, covered floats, a chili cookoff, a carnival and
concerts. The event is one of the city's most popular and is held
at the Ryon Park.
The flowers are grown for seed to be sold in markets and
catalogs throughout the world. Busy harvesting the crops, the workers
retrieve plants by their roots, gather bundles of same colored plants and
line up at a table where one person stands and cuts the roots off.
The cutter tool looks like a paper cutter only it has a larger, sharper
handle. The flowers are then placed in buckets or into open air flower
carts in trucks. Once filled, the trucks drive off to a processing
area.
While
the seasonal flowers are practically gone (thanks to the costs of competing
with South American flower growers), murals are something you can
see all year long. Lompoc has long been known for its colorful and historical
murals painted on buildings around the city. The murals are increasing
in quantity and are becoming a year round attraction, thanks to the efforts
of a local group called the Lompoc Mural Society. See several at
the links below, or better still, visit the city and see them in person.
Some are educational, some are whimsical and all are certain to delight
even the most discriminating artist.
Santa Maria< Lompoc > Santa Ynez
