MOSES LAKE — The parking lot is barren as the open country on the sand dunes. Wind blows through empty spaces marked employee parking, pushing little whirlwinds through the fallen leaves from nearby trees.

The sign on the storefront reads “Silverbow Honey, America’s Finest since 1945.” Now, the UPS notices of delivery attempts are stacking up on the service entrance and front door like the leaves blowing through the parking lot.

According to the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, Silverbow Honey filed for Chapter 7 on Oct. 14 to close its operations.

Telephone calls to the law office of Curtis A. Hehn, who filed on behalf of Silverbow Honey, have not been returned. Efforts to contact Silverbow Honey’s office or private numbers have not been returned.

The facility at 1120 E. Wheeler Rd. is 38,000 square feet of modernized stainless tanks and equipment, which annually packs over 5 million pounds of honey for sales to retail, bakery, food service, specialty and industrial businesses. Silverbow Honey produces anything from 5-ounce containers to 48,000 pound tankers.

But the information available indicates a business that has thrived in its industry, processing millions of pounds of honey each year, is no more.

Its rich history dates back generations. During the middle ’50s, Howard Graff relocated his operation from Montana to a plant in Snohomish so it could be located near the truck routes leading to and from Eastern Washington. Bees were transported to the fields of fruit in the Columbia Basin and the prairies of the state and then back to Western Washington for the extracting and processing of the honey. Throughout the fifties and into the sixties, Silverbow gained name recognition and a reputation for quality honey.

According to the website, Graff sold majority interest in Silverbow to Donald Grigg, who along with his sons, incorporated as Grigg Apiaries. With the purchase of Silverbow, Grigg secured a market for his honey and insisted, as Graff had, only the finest honey be sold bearing the Silverbow name.

During the late ’70s, or early ’80s, the processing plant was modernized. The production nearly doubled. Don and Gary Grigg moved the business to Moses Lake in 1990 to a newer and much larger facility, taking economic advantage of lower property costs in the Columbia Basin.

Silverbow had grown to become the largest independent honey packer in the Northwest and was recognized nationally as a source of premium honey.

Rodney Harwood can be reached at 509-765-4561 ext. 111 or businessag@columbiabasinherald.com.