Workman said he likes all the cantaloupe snacks offered at the festival. We had melons till the end and so we’re happy about that.” This year also brought other challenges, such as battling bugs and weeds. (Carly Sauvageau/The Nevada Independent)īut even though nine atmospheric rivers passed through the state this year and Fallon residents even experienced some flooding, water worries are likely to return. (Carly Sauvageau/The Nevada Independent) Workman Farms melons sold at the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival on Sunday, Aug. (Carly Sauvageau/The Nevada Independent) A variety of cantaloupe treats at the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival on Sunday, Aug. The abundance of water in Fallon this year eased some worries for farmers and ranchers across the “Oasis of Nevada.” The Churchill County Fairgrounds where the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival was held on Sunday, Aug. The bulk of Fallon’s water comes from an intermediate aquifer beneath Lake Lahontan that is reliant on runoff from the Carson River and irrigation systems that derive water from the Carson and Truckee Rivers, known as the Newlands Project, to recharge. “It’s hard and the risk is too valuable and you just can’t take it. Workman said one year, his farm decided not to grow cantaloupe at all. In recent years, a big concern has been the ongoing drought - an average muskmelon needs 1 to 2 inches (or about a full gallon plus a quarter gallon per square foot of land) of water a week. It’s a battle all the way,” said Wade Workman, a farmer who grows Heart of Gold Cantaloupes among other crops in Fallon. “You never know what you’re gonna get in the process. (Carly Sauvageau/The Nevada Independent)Īmong the booths selling street tacos, funnel cakes and handmade goods were several farmers selling cantaloupes they have been growing since May. “And then second is the cantaloupe daiquiri.” Angela Guthrie, the treasurer for the Fallon Festival Association, stands in the volunteer shed at the Cantaloupe Festival on Sunday, Aug. It was thanks to them, and the farmers growing the coveted orbs today, that the cantaloupe festival is still able to showcase the melons and all the festival treats derived from them. The Hearts of Gold Cantaloupe would have gone extinct if six Chinese immigrant families hadn’t kept growing the melons, according to a historical account on the festival’s website. However, the cantaloupe craze came to an end when the Great Depression hit and area farmers opted to grow alfalfa, a more stable crop. The experiment produced cantaloupes with a hard rind that made them ideal for shipping to the eastern United States during the 1920s. Vannoy began crossbreeding seeds originally developed in Benton Harbor, Michigan. (Carly Sauvageau/The Nevada Independent) A couple walk among the booths at the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival on Sunday, Aug. (Carly Sauvageau/The Nevada Independent) Cook puts the finishing touches on a funnel cake made during the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival on Sunday, Aug. “I think almost every hotel room is sold out.” Colton Tohanna at his family’s food stand selling his grandma’s recipe for Indian tacos at the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival on Sunday, Aug. “This is huge for our community,” Guthrie said. Angela Guthrie, the treasurer for the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival Association, is in her second year volunteering for the association. People from as far away as France traveled to Fallon - a town of a little more than 9,300 people east of Reno - this past weekend to attend the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival and celebrate the Heart of Gold Cantaloupe, a particular breed of melon said to have its beginnings in Churchill County.Ībout 200 volunteers worked from Friday to Sunday to accommodate the more than 15,000 visitors to the festival.
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