Yuba City looks like a typical city in Punjab on this festive occasion. All kinds of goods imported from India are sold in the Punjab Bazaar, a temporary mini shopping mall. Thus, the annual parade provides major economic benefits to the community. The city gets its share of revenue in the form of sales and other taxes. The annual event is also a homecoming weekend for many younger Sikhs who have left Yuba City for other parts of the US.

Didar Singh Bains started the parade tradition in Yuba City. He came to the US in 1958 from Nangal in Hoshiarpur and worked as a farm laborer. He and his father bought their first farm in 1962. At one time, he was one of the biggest peach growers in California and was called “Peach King of California.” He is probably the wealthiest farmer among Indians in the United States.

Yuba City has the distinction of having permanent multi-media exhibition housed in the Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County. The exhibition was developed by the Punjabi American Heritage Society and captures the story of over 100 years of the Punjabi community in the United States. The exhibit is appropriately titled, “Becoming American: The story of Pioneer Punjabis and South Asians.”

There are also large Punjabi farming communities in other cities in California such as Fresno, Bakersfield, El Centro and the areas surrounding these cities. Some of the farmers have earned name, fame and fortune. A Sikh farmer from Fresno has earned the title of “Raisin King of California.” The New York Times calls Harbhajan Singh Samra “the okra king of the USA”. Samra specializes in growing Indian vegetables such as okra, mooli, tinda, bitter melon, Indian eggplant, methi, etc. near Palm Springs, Southern California.