Dixon Melon Days provides family fun

DIXON — Mix fresh cantaloupe, face-painting, a tribal motorcycle club, stir well, serve over a sunny summer day, and what do you have? Melon Days in Dixon. 

This was the event’s  21st year celebrating the local Hettick family melon growers. The festival had a number of events including  a parade, a melon-eating contest, a dunk tank, kiddie games,  live music and back this year, a  kiddie rodeo.

Waiting on a float for the parade to begin were students from Dixon Elementary School, along with one of their teachers, Janita VonHeeder.

“It is pretty busy,” she observed, with a sigh as she watched over her students. “There are more events this year.”

The students were decked out in their school colors of orange and black, and were even lucky enough to get ice cream.

The parade also had a visit from the Shriners of Missoula, members of the Sober Indian Riders Club, and  the Balyeat family band performing on a float.

With all the goings on it is still important to stop by one of the truckloads and pick up some of the famous Hettick melons.  Harley Hettick  has been growing melons for 25 years. What began as, “a hobby gone wild,” has now become a family business.

A former Missoulian newspaper photographer, Harley had always had an interest in growing melons, stemming from his family’s melon-growing history.

“My grandfather started us saving seeds, you know back in my day there weren’t hybrids yet, so we would pick out the best melon of the year and save its seeds to plant for next year,”  he pointed out.

“I love the process, working the soil,” he said. It seemed that for Hettick he would always return to his roots.

Since Harley’s stroke his step-son Faus Silverhale has taken over the majority of the farming responsibilities.

“We have five different varieties including a  hybrid called “sinful”, a cantaloupe and honeydew cross, the best seller though is still cantaloupe, although my personal favorite is red watermelon,” Silverhale said,  “The melons have been sweet this year, they taste pretty damn good.”  It appears that way as the steady stream of customers are keeping the melon sellers busy.

One of these customers was first-time attendee Gary Peterson, who  came all the way from Missoula for the festivities and left with, “one cantaloupe and one honeydew.”

Helping Peterson make his selection was melon seller Trevor Moss, he advised, “ when picking a melon, don’t pick a green one.”

When asked what his preferred melon was Hettick said with a smile, “ I love them all, as long as they are picked right and grown right.”