unWired Community Spotlight: Kingsburg, CA

unWired Community Spotlight is a series highlighting the communities that make Central California a great place to live. unWired is proud to provide fast and reliable Internet to homes and businesses in Kingsburg and the surrounding areas.

Located in the center of the San Joaquin Valley, Kingsburg is home to a rich Swedish culture, as well as a thriving agricultural community.

The town that is now known as Kingsburg originated as a railroad town along the Central Pacific Railroad in the late 1800s. Around the same time, Swedish natives settle near there and as recently as 1921, 94% of the town’s population was Swedish. While Kingsburg’s demographic make-up has shifted since then, its downtown area remains heavily influenced by Swedish architecture and culture. The Kingsburg water tower is even shaped like a Swedish coffee pot and holds 60,000 gallons of water, which can be seen from Highway 99. Kingsburg celebrates its roots annually during the Kingsburg Swedish Festival, held on the 3rd weekend in May. The festival attracts people from all around the world for Swedish cuisine, the Dance of the Maypole and shopping from local vendors.

Their local economy is bolstered by several crops that grow in abundance throughout the area, including a variety of stone fruit and table grapes. In fact, Sun-Maid Growers, the nation’s largest producers of raisins, is headquartered in Kingsburg and is the town’s largest employer. Their headquarters boasts the world’s biggest box of raisins, which was built by Fresno State students.

Kingsburg is also a stop along the Fresno County Blossom Trail, which peaks in mid-February and March. Famous for the white and pink blossoms of almond, peach, nectarine and apricot trees, the Blossom Trail is over 60 miles long and can be explored via car, bike or even walking! After blossom season is over, the trail transforms into the Fresno County Fruit Trail, where you can buy fruit from many roadside stands.

*Photo courtesy of mapio.net

About unWired Broadband

unWired Broadband is the leading Internet provider for rural and underserved areas in Central and Northern California. Their network includes over 200 towers connecting communities that have been ignored by cable and fiber Internet providers. Since their inception in 2003, they have expanded their connectivity suite to also include redundancy solutions, a data center and most recently, fiber Internet.