Migrants to California From Dust Bowl Saluted at Okie Fest
Oklahomans who fled a Depression-era drought for California’s farm belt were remembered Sunday during the Okie Fest, a celebration of food, music and history.
Sponsored by the Okie Girl restaurant, the festival attracted hundreds of people Sunday morning, many of them the offspring of the impoverished farmers memorialized in John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath.”
“Okie” was used by Californians as a term of contempt during the years of migration, but has since become a source of pride for many, said Ken Sewell, event coordinator.
The Okie Girl gained notoriety two years ago when the state Department of Transportation refused to print the restaurant’s name or logo--a voluptuous girl clad in rolled up overalls and a straw hat--on grounds that the term Okie was derogatory.
Restaurant owner Mary Chase, who migrated to California with her parents in the 1930s, won a court order in 1991 instructing the agency to put the name and logo on road signs.
The restaurant is 70 miles north of Los Angeles.
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