Festival spotlight: The county’s melon meisters

Cantaloupe grower Rick Lattin and his right-hand man Adrian Alanis know something about growing the tasty fruit that’s made the Lahontan Valley famous.

Buyers may think of them as the melon meisters of the valley or maestros conducting an orchestra with seeds, water and the right temperatures from Mother Nature.

Early one morning last week, Lattin and Alanis were checking out the melons and preparing for visitors from the University of Nevada, Reno. Alanis, who has been with the Lattin family for more than 30 years, walked into a cooler, picked up a melon and brought it closer to the door.

“Look at this,” he said, holding the melon with both hands. “This weighs 12 pounds.”

Alanis then pointed to a box containing more Sarah’s Choice cantaloupes which will be one of the featured melons at this year’ Fallon Cantaloupe Festival and Country Fair that begins Friday at the Rafter 3C Complex.

“These melons are bigger than we have had in years,” he added.

Since the annual Cantaloupe Festival debuted in the mid-1980s, Lattin Farms, and over the years and other growers such as Workman’s, the Freys and Pioneer Farms, have grown Hearts of Gold and other melons. Locals and visitors alike circle the summer months on their calendars, waiting to visit Lattin Farms on McLean Road or attend the festival. Many times it’s both.

Growing melons in this valley has become an art for Lattin and Alanis. Drought, hot temperatures. Too much rain. Not enough rain. Cooler than normal. Finding the right touch, though, is key to a good season, and sometimes Mother Nature turns her back and leaves the producers with smaller yields that predicted.

And then there’s that unpredictable commodity called water.

“We have to watch the water and use what we need,” Lattin said, especially when describing the Hearts of Gold that’s smaller than the other melons.

Lattin said he uses upward to 20 acres — give or take — for growing the cantaloupes.

When consumers walk around the festival and stop at the various produce stand, they will notice the wide-range appeal of cantaloupes: jam, ice cream, beer, bread. Lattin is the first, though, to tell others he prefers the Sarah’s Choice cantaloupe compared to Hearts of Gold. The melon is sweet and juicy as is the Sugar Cube melon.

Yet, the Lattin family lives in a region that’s known more for growing agricultural crops in what Lattin calls cattle country because of the number of dairies dotting Churchill County and the adjacent counties. Lattin, though, will always hold the cantaloupe esteem.

“The cantaloupe has been good, but it doesn't’ go back to New York City like it did in the 1900s,” he said.

The Hearts of Gold cantaloupe was grown in the county and coveted by the expensive restaurants and markets in New York City as well as those establishments over the Sierra Nevada in San Francisco or east across the desert to Salt Lake City. Lattin said the boom era for growing cantaloupes occurred a century ago when 500 acres was used for the Hearts of Gold.

The cantaloupe is temperamental, and every two to three years, Lattin will rotate crops to replace the nutrients. He has also received assistance and input from the University of Nevada, Reno on additional research and growing cantaloupes. Immediately, though, Lattin refers back to water and said he and other growers must watch the water situation in the valley as other needs for the area’s liquid gold arise.

Lattin said his family grew cantaloupes in the 1950s but closed the operation and concentrated on other crops. It wasn’t until the 1980s when the cantaloupes made a comeback with the first festival held in honor of the fruit. In addition to preparing for the cantaloupe festival, Lattin took his cantaloupes and other fruits and vegetables to the famers markets in Carson City, Sparks, Reno, Lake Tahoe and Hawthorne. Lattin, though, prefers to sell to more local consumers, some who will still drive the 60 miles from the Reno or Carson City area to stop at Lattin Farms. The farm has also spread out with more vegetables.