Monday, August 22, 2011

Howell Melon Festival (almost)

Howell Michigan is a short drive from the RV Park so yesterday we decided to go to the Howell Melon Fest. After all the weather forecast was for rain in the early morning and we were going in the afternoon. The "Howell" melon is claimed to be found only in this area and is a very good tasting hybrid cantaloupe. The first Howell melons were grown by August "Gus" Smith, a local farmer, who was given the original seeds by an itinerant hobo during the Great Depression. The taste of the melon soon won over other farmers who soon planted the distinctive melon elsewhere in Livingston County. The Howell Melon Festival has been held each year in mid-August since 1960.

As we were driving towards the Festival a big storm was heading towards us and Howell. Discretion is the better part of valor so we turned around and headed back to the park. We luckily got far enough that a tent on the outskirts of town run by the Jaycees who put on the Festival was selling Howell Melons so we stopped and got one. By now it was sprinkling and it stayed that way luckily all the way back to the park. A scant few moments after we got safely inside it rained heavily. We cut open the melon and had a very good melon so we are glad that we at least attempted to go. We also got tomatoes at the stand so we had BLTs and Michigan sweet corn for lunch while it was pouring outside. 

Nice to know you can depend on the weather forecast no matter where you are!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

1 comment:

  1. That's a melon I've never heard of. Our melons have been hit or miss this summer. Some really great ones and some we just threw out. Jim's chowing down on some really great tomatoes - his favorite. I'm going to talk to him about the axillary fuel tank.

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