Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

VALLEY — There will be a new twist to this year’s Free Watermelon Day at Valley Farmer’s Market. Instead of giving out slices of watermelon, volunteers will give samples of watermelon sealed in baggies.

“It’s a safety procedure,” explained Valley Parks & Recreation Director Laurie Blount. “With the coronavirus still out there, we think it’s safer to do it this way than the way we have in the past.”

On previous Free Watermelon Days, the watermelons were cut up on a table underneath the pavilion with slices being handed out to people standing in line.

Blount said that things have gone pretty well at the Farmer’s Market this summer, given the circumstances.

“We’ve had at least seven or eight Alabama farmers there every Friday,” she said. “We are social distancing and that may discourage some people from coming. We have one person at a time at a table, and people are lined up behind them about six feet apart. It’s pretty busy when we start at 3 p.m. If you don’t want to wait in line, it’s best to come around 4:30 or 5 p.m. The farmers have been bringing lots of produce, and there will still be a good selection at that time.”

The watermelons for this year’s Free Watermelon Day will be provided by Walter Pulliam of LaFayette and Steele Farms of Shorter, Alabama. Both are having really good watermelon crops this year. They will have watermelons for sale on Friday.