Help Restore the Mammoth Orange!

UPDATE: WE ACCEPT DONATIONS OF BUILDING MATERIALS AS WELL! WE ARE CURRENTLY IN NEED OF STEEL TO HELP RESURFACE THE ORANGE. PLEASE CONTACT THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY PALEONTOLOGY FOUNDATION. 


A number of very dedicated Madera County Rotary Clubs and the San Joaquin Valley Paleontology Foundation have joined together to restore the glory of the Mammoth Orange stand located in Fairmead, California!

Progress has already been made but there's still work to be done. Any donation to this community project is gladly accepted. See below for a brief history of the Mammoth Orange:

In 1926, Frank Pohl opened the first of a chain of giant orange stands in Tracy, California. Then in the 1940s he built the Chowchilla Mammoth Orange stand—with Alaska-Size Burgers—which was relocated to Fairmead in 1954.

In the 1950s, there were about 16 stands throughout northern California from Bakersfield to Sacramento. According to rumors, one single stand went through about 6,000 oranges a week.

Two stands were located along what is now State Route 99 in Madera County. The Mammoth Orange in Fairmead was purchased in the late 1940's by a New York Transplant, Peggy Doyler, who ran the restaurant for several years in Chowchilla. During the 1950s, those who worked in the stands wore roller skates. It was purchased by Doris and Jim Stiggins in 1981 who eventually added a new up-to-code kitchen at the rear of the orange. In 2008, changes to SR 99 led to the closure of the Fairmead Mammoth Orange.

The materials of the orange itself have suffered somewhat due to the corrosive nature of citric acid and some of the aluminum has literally been eaten through. Although not pristine, the orange is holding up well. Let's bring it back to life!




Click here: ABC 30 NEWS COVERAGE OF THE MAMMOTH ORANGE