BURLINGTON, Wash. — On Oct. 5-6, the annual Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms was held here without the participation of Sakuma Brothers Farms. The company posted signs on its store and packing plant saying it was unable to attend this year. A similar notice was posted on the festival’s website.

Participants, who came to tour farms, buy fruit or pet animals, were welcomed by informational picket lines on all four corners near the highway exit. Pickets included members and supporters of Familias Unidas por la Justicia (Families United for Justice), the union representing berry pickers who work at Sakuma Farms. They are fighting for a contract with higher wages and better conditions as well as reinstatement of union leader Ramón Torres.

— MARY MARTIN