Our Story

The year was 1950. Bob and Norma Willis purchased 30 acres of orchard land from Norma's father. From its meager beginning, this family owned and operated business has grown and diversified. The Willis family - sons Gary, Mike and Rick; plus two grandsons - Chip and Ryan, now have more than 300 acres of fruit in production. Eighty-percent of their trees bear popular Anjou (or D'anjou) pears, the remainder bear other pear varieties and apples.

Always looking for the best way to maintain the freshness and top quality of their fruit, the Willis family added their own cold storage units with atmosphere-controlled rooms. They can house more than 6800 bins of fruit, allowing them to lengthen the time frames that they can take their fruit to market. However, the domestic pear market has been driven down by competition from foreign imports. Even with the advantages of producing great quantities of high quality fruit, and maintaining their freshness to better time the market; the Willis family needed to develop a different way to sell their fruit.

Rick Willis remembered the old days, when people would stop off at fruit stands along the road. They would pick up fruit, take it home and let it ripen over a few days until it was ready to eat. Now, he observes, people do not want to wait - they expect their fruit to be fresh and ready to eat - and in a form that is easily shared with others or stored to finish later. This observation has lead to a thriving business opportunity called Gorge Delights which produces value-added fruit products.

How do you add value to fruit? According to Mike Willis, you make it more convenient - easier to eat and store. To that end, Gorge Delights has been producing sliced fruit packaged in plastic containers with resealable lids. The fruit has been dipped in a calcium and vitamin C mixture which prevents oxidation, keeping the fruit from turning brown and maintaining its appetizing appeal. The Gorge Delights fruit slices are sold at grocery, health food and convenience stores in the Columbia River Gorge and Portland metro area, but plans are to expand distribution throughout the Northwest.

Another product takes the fresh, sweet taste of pears and apples gives them an almost unbelievable shelf life. Gorge Delights 100% Natural Fruit Bars are 100% natural, full of flavor with no fat or cholesterol and low in calories. Each bar contains two whole pears or apples, with varieties flavored with other fruits such as blueberry, strawberry, cherry and cranberry, and has a shelf life of up to two years.

Gorge Delights current home is a 19,000 square foot processing plant in North Bonneville, Washington. But the same ideals and values developed and created by the Willis family are the hallmark of every fruit product leaving the plant. It is a tradition which has lasted for more than 50 years - family fortified and naturally wholesome.