page_title: Sacramento Valley Development Association
section_title: Great Prune Bear
hierarchical_section_title: Sacramento Valley Development Association / Publications and publicity / Great Prune Bear
caption_attribution_description: English: The Prune Bear, made of prunes grown in the Sacramento Valley, Calif., at the Portland, Ore. Exposition. Lib. of Congress
context_page_description: The Sacramento Valley Development Association was a quasi-public entity of colony land developers founded in 1900 to advance the area's political and commercial interests as well as market its agricultural products. The organization, headquartered in Sacramento, was founded by 6 counties but came to comprise representatives from 6 more, each selected by their respective county supervisor. It remained operational and influential until 1925 when the Sacramento Valley Regional Advisory for the larger California Development Association filled the void.
context_section_description: One of the association's special promotional projects which gained brief national attention made its debut at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. The "Great Prune Bear", as they called it, was a life-sized bear made entirely of prunes adorned with gleaming teeth and flashing electric eyes, which attracted visitors and photographers from all over. Each was given a folder on the advantages of the area and asked to estimate the number of fruits used in the bear's creation. As California became an agricultural powerhouse, the valley was transitioning to fruits and vegetables, hence why the much maligned prune was marketed so heavily.
  The next year, the same groups were granted $100,000 by the state legislature to represent the Sacramento Valley and California at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon. Having received their own building this time around, many California exhibits embellished upon the last year's display. Yet, according to a final report by the state itself, none featured more items than Sacramento County, which included a 12-foot high mural of the Great Seal of California made entirely of beans, a model of the California State Capitol constructed of nuts and a pyramid of beer bottles from the Buffalo Brewery in the shape of a giant beer bottle. But, of course, none received as much publicity as the upgraded Great Prune Bear, located on the central rotunda and now featuring a graphophone in its jaws.
caption: Lewis and Clark Exposition, Portland, Oregon. The Great Prune Bear presented by Sacramento County (1905)
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