Contact:
Jan DeLyser
The Avocado Commission
714-558-6761

ESCONDIDO, Calif. - The 1997-98 California avocado crop, expected to yield 320 million pounds of fruit, will soon be on its way to retail locations across the U.S., much of it via the newly named "Avocado Highway," a stretch of Interstate Highway 15 where a major percentage of California's avocado crop is grown.

The Highway was recently named by a California State Assembly Resolution. California avocado growers and elected officials will gather at the California Center for the Arts on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 1997, to mark the official start of the California avocado season and christen the "Avocado Highway" with presentations by elected officials and a cake-cutting ceremony, preceded by a "First Pick" ceremony at Henry Avocados and parade of cars along the Avocado Highway to the California Center for the Arts. "Popular California avocados will be on their way to retail locations across the U.S., with a large portion of the crop beginning its journey along the newly named "Avocado Highway," by mid-December," said Bob Bednar, chairman of the board for the California Avocado Commission.

California avocados are available throughout the year for use in a variety of holiday and everyday dishes, including Super Bowl dips, Cinco de Mayo guacamole, and summer salads and sandwiches. "The more than 22-mile stretch of I-15 between San Diego and Riverside counties, renamed the "Avocado Highway", houses nearly 30,000 acres of avocado groves, contributing greatly to the $1 billion California avocado industry," said Bednar. An estimated 140 million pounds of the fruit are expected to be produced this year in San Diego County alone. As the leading growing area for California avocados, San Diego County is also known as the nation's Avocado Capitol. And Riverside County, the third largest growing region or the state's avocado crop, is projected to yield nearly 40 million pounds of avocados.

Armed with these ample statistics that clearly position the land between Escondido and Temecula the most fertile avocado growing area in the nation, Senator David G. Kelley (R- 37th District) introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution Number 9, which officially designates the stretch of Interstate Highway 15 between the junction of State Highway Route 78 in the City of Escondido and the City of Temecula as the "Avocado Highway."