Rocky Ford melons and a fair that has run since 1878

If you settle in Otero County, you’ll learn fast that “Rocky Ford” is shorthand for a melon. The cantaloupes and watermelons grown here, watered by the same Arkansas River ditches that shape every farm in the valley, built a name that once shipped by the railcar to Kansas City and St. Louis. Growers will tell you the valley’s hot days and cool nights help build the sugar, though that’s local lore as much as anything you’ll find written down.

The pride shows up every August at the Arkansas Valley Fair, which the fair calls the oldest continuous fair in Colorado. It started in 1878, and Watermelon Day began that very same year. Gate admission has never been charged. The heart of it is Saturday morning, when the local business community provides tens of thousands of pounds of Rocky Ford watermelons and members of the Rotary Club hand them out, free, to everyone who shows up. There’s a parade, livestock shows, a carnival, and concerts across the week too.

For a newcomer, this is the one date to circle. The fair runs the third week of August at the fairgrounds in Rocky Ford. Check the current schedule and Watermelon Day details at the official site, arkvalleyfair.com.