Plans for the 2011 Winters agricultural symposium, “Farming Through the Generations,” have been announced jointly by researchers at UC Davis’ Wolfskill Experimental Orchards and the Winters History Project Committee. The event will take place Wednesday, May 4.

A full day of symposium events includes a 10 a.m. tour of Wolfskill Experimental Orchards at 4334 Putah Creek Road, to be conducted by UCD researchers and including olive oil tasting under the historic Wolfskill olive trees that were planted in 1860 by John Reid Wolfskill.

The tour will be followed by a catered luncheon at The Buckhorn Steak and Roadhouse’s DeVilbiss Room, with speaker Neal Van Alfen, dean of UCD’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and a 2 p.m. panel discussion at The Palms Playhouse by second- and third-generation Winters farmers, with musical entertainment by the Putah Creek Crawdads.

The Palms is in the historic Winters Opera House at 13 Main St., and special Opera House exhibits prepared by Charley Wallace and Dave Fleming will be featured.

The day will conclude with self-directed tours of Winters wine-tasting rooms, businesses and restaurants into the evening.

Participating in the symposium’s morning program will be Ted DeJong, UCD pomologist and director of the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards; Tom Gradziel, UCD almond and peach breeder; Doug Shaw, UCD strawberry breeder; John Preece, USDA Wolfskill repositor; and Dan Flynn, director of the UCD Olive Center at the Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.

During the afternoon program panel discussion, speakers will include Winters Mayor Woody Fridae; historian Joann L. Larkey; Bruce Rominger of Rominger Brothers Farms, moderator; Gloria Lopez of S.R. Lopez Orchards and author of “An America Paella”; Chris Turkovich of Turkovich Family Wines; and Jenny Lester of Dixon Ridge Farms.

Audience participation will be invited.

The sponsoring Winters History Project, which operates under an affiliation with the Yolo County Historical Society, will benefit from this event.  The cost of the orchard tour, catered lunch and symposium is $50; for the afternoon symposium only, $20.

To register, visit http://agsymposium.eventbrite.com or send a check, payable to WHP (Winters History Project)-YCHS (Yolo County Historical Society), to P.O. 827, Winters, CA 95694. Donations for this fundraising event are tax-deductible, organizers said.

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University professors and farmers met in the colorfully decorated Winters Opera House in December 1897 when this photo was taken by G.W. Hemenway. Professors, farmers and community members are invited to the Opera House once again to participate in the Winters Agricultural Symposium on May 4. Hemenway family/Courtesy photo

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