DeLeon’s Peach & Melon Festival was taken from materials gleaned from the DeLeon Free Press and from an article in DeLeon’s Monitor, believed to have been written by Phil Tate, that were eventually compiled by Jerry Morgan. However, the article has been shortened and revised for space purposes.
Each year the DeLeon Peach & Melon Festival is one of the premier events in North Central Texas, drawing thousands of visitors to the town of DeLeon with a population of about 2,500.
The Festival, as we know it today, evolved from roughly 30 years of about three different events held on an annual basis. However, the annual DeLeon attraction has been developing since 1914, more than 90 years ago.
The Free Fall Fair, which began in 1914, was the first of DeLeon’s annual celebrations. However, not much is known about that particular event because, in 1923, a fire destroyed the building that housed the DeLeon Free Press offices, taking all archived copies of the newspaper prior to that time. Therefore, research of the fair prior to 1923 is now difficult.
A letter written in June 1964 by L.B. Patterson to C.H. Locke was able to shed some light on the watermelon slicing tradition in DeLeon before the fire. Patterson said that in 1921, watermelons were planned and planted on a commercial basis. Unfortunately, the melons were white-hearted, which limited their commercial value.
During a meeting held in 1921, Patterson and a man from Duster named Mr. Foote were elected to be sent to Weatherford to find good watermelon seed and to learn better fertilizing, cultivating and marketing of the melons.
While in Weatherford, Patterson was invited to attend a watermelon slicing, and Patterson was so enthused that he wrote three letters to the editor in the DeLeon Free Press about having one in DeLeon the next year.
In 1922, 40 grower associations around the state planted watermelons, formed a state exchange and signed a contract assuring shipment and sale of melons through the exchange.
The local melon growers made the City of DeLeon a proposition. The growers would furnish the melons if the City would advertise the melon slicing and clean up after it. The City accepted the proposition and large crowds have been attending the slicings ever since.
Carpenters were put to work preparing an immense hall to house the fair exhibits in the old Farmers’ Union warehouse that today is used as a peanut warehouse by the DeLeon Peanut Company. It is just east of the peanut mill.
Therefore, a second annual melon slicing sponsored by the DeLeon Farm Bureau Watermelon Growers and the Young Men’s Business League was held on Aug. 15, 1923.
A large opening day parade with entries from practically every business in town and many surrounding communities and schools was planned. The Donald McGregor Carnival would provide some of the entertainment for the fair. A dance was planned for the DeLeon City Hall complete with an orchestra. Horses and mules weighing less than 1,000 pounds were to be raced by boys 15 and younger through the roped-off streets in town.
Area farmers and their wives were urged to bring in examples of their produce for judging and to provide items for decoration of the exhibit halls.
About 5,000 people were reported to have attended the slicing event that year.
The fair continued intermittently from its 1914 beginning until 1936. It was briefly interrupted during World War I and the Desdemona oil boom, but its largest interlude came after the 1923 fair.
However, research in the newspaper archives reveals that the YMBL came together two years later and sponsored another produce fair in November of 1925.
Rather than being billed as the Free Fall Fair, it was referred to as the Pecan and Poultry Show. Pecan and poultry exhibitors from a wide area in Texas came to the event and admission was free to both events.
In August of 1934, plans were made for DeLeon’s first annual Watermelon Festival to run Aug. 7 to 9.
The town spruced itself up, placing 50 American flags along main street.
For the first time a queen was chosen. Any girl living within 10 miles of DeLeon could be nominated for 50 cents at any of DeLeon’s three drug stores. Surprisingly, the first three-day-edition of the festival resulted in large crowds and outstanding publicity, and it seemed to propel the festival forward.
An estimated 10,000 people attended the three-day event, and the impact on the DeLeon economy was significant. The cafes, hotels and service stations all reported a minimum 30 percent increase in business during the week.
More than $35,000 were received from the sale of the roughly 320,000 melons sold that summer, which in the days of the Depression was a windfall of enormous proportions.
The event continued to grow until the year of 1936 marked the emergence of the Watermelon and Peach Festival as DeLeon’s leading annual event.
It continued annually untilo the attack on Pearl Harbor and the advent of the Second World War put the Festival on hold from 1941 until 1947.
From its revival following World War II, the Peach & Melon Festival has continued uninterrupted until the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to cancel in 2020.
It has taken many hours of hard work and personal sacrifice for that small but loyal band of DeLeon citizens who have annually met, organized and entertained this part of Texas for one hot week each summer.