Howell Melon Festival parade set to make sweet return
HOWELL — For the first time in more than a decade, the Howell Melon Festival, celebrating its 62nd year, will feature a parade through town as part of the festivities.
The festival takes place Wednesday through Sunday in downtown Howell.
According to Howell communications specialist Danica Katnik, the return of the parade came about because of residents and visitors asking about it for years. She said the Shriners have always been a big part of the tradition and they'll be returning this year with their clown cars as part of the parade.
The festival is a collaboration between the city, the Downtown Development Authority, the Howell Area Historical Society, the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce, the Howell Area Fire Authority, along with Howell Parks and Recreation Authority. To highlight the return of the parade, organizers chose Gerald Knight as this year's grand marshal.
"We were all just kind of chatting about what we wanted the intent of the parade to be this year, which is celebrating our agricultural community and a couple people mentioned that the Knight's have been around for a long time," Katnik said. "It was sort of just something of us recognizing the longevity of their family and their history contribution to the Howell Melon Festival and community. That he just was a perfect fit."
The History of the Howell Melon and the Festival
According to Knight, the famous melon made its way to Howell through his father, Stanley Knight, Willard Wiltse, and two others.
In the 1920s, the group of four visited a local farm at lunch to hang out and feed the horses. It was there they met Tony, who owned the farm and who gave them melons from his brother in Indiana.
They saved the seeds and planted them in the spring, and the rest is history. However the start of the melon festival itself has a bit of a different story.
The Howell Melon Festival was founded in 1960 by Dr. Louis "Pat" May, a local physician and melon grower.
At 7 or 8 years old, Knight was out selling melons one day. He got down to his last bushel and paid a visit to May on Clinton Street.
"I remember, he came out to the pickup and he had to have the melons. He liked them, so he said we've got to have a melon festival. He was a promoter and so the next year he started the melon festival," Knight said.
MORE: Gerald Knight shares the story of the Howell melon after he's chosen as grand marshal
This year's festivities
This year's festival includes numerous events. From 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday at the festival tent on South Center Street, there will be a trivia event, featuring melon-flavored beer and wine.
The cost is $40 to participate and includes, a four-person trivia teams and four drink tickets per team. Participants must be at least 21. Find registration information on the Howell Melon Festival website.
On Thursday, there will be two events, including the Friends of the Library preview book sale from 4 to 7 p.m. at Howell Carnegie Library, at 314 W. Grand River Ave. In addition, dueling pianos take place from 5 to 10 p.m. at the festival tent on South Center Street.
Other activities include:
Friends of the Library book sale at Howell Carnegie Library: 4-7 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Melon quest scavenger hunt in downtown Howell Friday through Sunday at $15 per team. Teams will complete tasks and answer questions about Howell and the historic festival.
Festival tent festivities on South Center Street: 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to noon Sunday.
Melon Ice Cream for sale on the Howell library lawn: 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday on the historic courthouse lawn.
Howell Opera House art show, at 123 W. Grand River Ave., at 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Kids melon patch, at North Center Street: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
At 6 p.m. Friday is the mascot dash, at the corner of State and Clinton streets. The melon roll will commence at 6:15 p.m. at the same place, followed by the one in a melon 1 mile run at 6:30 p.m.
The 45th annual Howell melon run will kick off at 7 p.m., with check-in starting at 5 p.m.
The evening festivities will continue with Great Scott Concert at 7 to 10 p.m. at the festival tent and the Air Margaritaville Jimmy Buffet Tribute Band at the courthouse, located at 200 E. Grand River Ave., for Concert at the Courthouse.
On Saturday, the Howell Carnegie Library will have activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The parade will make its return at 10 a.m. in downtown. There will be a historic car show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Walnut and Wetmore streets.
Additionally, First Presbyterian Church, at 323 W. Grand River Ave., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will host an arts and crafts show.
In the afternoon, there will be a "CornHowell" tournament at noon on North State Street and a Fast Eddie concert from noon to 2 p.m. on South Walnut Street.
Other Saturday entertainment includes:
Community theater of Howell at the courthouse amphitheater, at 200 E. Grand River Ave., from 3 to 4 p.m., scenes from the Merry Wives of Windsor
Empty Canvas Concert, from 5 to 6 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., at the festival tent on South Center Street.
KayLyn Pace Concert at the historic Howell theater, located at 315 E. Grand River Ave., at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on the Howell theater website.
From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, the Howell Farmers Market will be on State Street.
Contact Livingston Daily reporter Patricia Alvord at palvord@livingstondaily.com about news coverage.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Celebrating 62 years, Howell Melon Festival returns with parade
