Annual Irrigon Watermelon Festival Gets Under Way This Saturday

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It’s time once again to celebrate the wonderful watermelon at the Irrigon Watermelon Festival. Saturday, July 28 will be a full day of family fun at Irrigon Marina Park.

The day starts with breakfast from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. Pancakes, biscuits and gravy, ham and eggs, cinnamon rolls and hot coffee are on the menu. Then the downtown parade begins at 10 a.m.

The all-day festivities begin at 11 a.m. in the park. There will be local craft and food vendors, entertainment, bingo, kids’ games, a giant water slide and a dunk tank. Lots of items will be raffled, including a custom fishing rod and guided fishing trip on the Columbia River. Friends of the Irrigon Library will have activities and a story time for the kids, and there will be a car and motorcycle show.

Special guests, the Oregon National Guard, will bring in a Chinook helicopter, a Humvee and a Stryker armored personnel carrier. They’ll also have a climbing wall.

After the main stage live performances and music are done, Desert Sounds of Hermiston will DJ a street dance in the park beginning at 9 p.m.

The event is sponsored by Bellinger Farms, the Morrow County Unified Recreation District and the Irrigon Watermelon Festival.