WALLA WALLA, WA -- Toasty temperatures in the Walla Walla valley eventually pushed the mercury into triple digits, but it did not put a damper on the recent 22nd annual Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival.

The free event, held at the Walla Walla County Fairgrounds July 14-16, showcased the famous Walla Walla sweet onion, a variety as distinctive as the area in which it is grown and marketed.

As the July 24 issue of The Produce News was going to press, it was learned that Keith Frosceno, regional vice president of sales for W. Newell & Co. in Champaign, IL, left that company July 14.

KENNEWICK, WA -- Dan Kelly, assistant director of the Washington Growers Clearing House Association in Wenatchee, WA, said July 17 that he expects realistic numbers about summer hail damage to the state's crop of apples, pears and cherries will become available the week of Aug. 7.

One month after ownership of the Albertsons chain changed hands, the company has announced that as of July 21 it is closing its on-line shopping and delivery service in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix markets.

A company spokesperson said that it was a "strategic business decision" designed to focus the firm's efforts on enhancing the "in- store shopping experience."

An infrastructure improvement at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, AZ, consisting of the addition of two new lanes, including a new fast lane, is expected to be completed by mid-August. The improvement is designed to speed the process of getting produce trucks from Mexico across the border into the United States to the warehouses in Nogales.

Following weeks of cold, wet spring weather, it appeared at one point that the table grape harvest in California's San Joaquin Valley would start at least two weeks later than normal, and some growers had predicted start dates as much as three weeks late.

But warm and sometimes extremely hot weather over the past two months has changed all that, as timing has generally returned to within three or four days of normal, and reliable supplies of fresh grapes in promotable volume are now available.