BETHEL – Ben B. Conant, curator of the Paris Cape Historical Society, was the featured speaker at the October lecture of the Bethel Historical Society’s 2008 Series in the meeting room of the Dr. Moses Mason House.

Titled “Marketing Maine Apples,” the presentation focused on apple growers primarily operating in Western Maine under names that included the Oxford Bears Fruit Growers Association and the Indian Head Fruit Growers based in Hebron/Minot/Turner, Andoxco, Conant Brothers, South Paris, and the Oxford Fruit Products Co., Buckfield.

Conant traced the apple growing and marketing tradition back to the founding of the Maine Pomological Association in 1873.

He discussed the relationship with the English market for the fruit up to the 1930s when economic changes severely curtailed the companies’ opportunities for success.

Conant also provided family information along with photographs and other documents relating to apple marketing and distribution in this region.