By Robin Hunt
Green River celebrated 117 years of Melon Days with the annual Melon Days Festival on Friday and Saturday.
Festivities included a vendor fair, wild west dancing, bounce houses, pony rides, a concert by Maddie Wilson, a 5k run/walk, a golf tournament, a melon carving contest, a softball tournament, a photo contest, a Children’s Entrepreneur market, and of course, the MELON.
On Saturday, Green River’s melon-growing families, including the Thayns, Veteres and Dunhams, cut up and served delicious melon to festival goers all day. The old, the young and everyone in between sunk their teeth into delicious, juicy melons. They served watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, Crenshaw and many other varieties.
Many local businesses and groups participated in the Melon Days parade, which was organized by Cindy Bowerman. Thousands of people lined Green River Main Street and watched as floats decked out with watermelons and loaded with candy made their way down the packed street.
Winners of the parade in the business category included Shady Acres in first place and Lee’s Music in second place. In community groups, first place went to KZMU while second place was awarded to Los Aviles. In individual, first place went to Ron and Suzanne Taylor and second place went to Chris Sheeter. In non-profit/civic/religious, Kent Nelson took first place and the Class of ‘83 took second place. In the best theme category, first place was awarded to the Davis Family and second place went to Emery Telcom. Finally, the judge’s choice was the Green River Medical Center.
This event takes place the third weekend of September every year. Melon Days 2024 is scheduled for Sept. 20 and 21. You can learn more about this event, and keep up to date at melon-days.com.
