Red Seeded Melon
The one people drive across the city for. Heavy dark rind, deep red flesh, real seeds.
$15 to $20 Priced by size, cash at the truckSouthern Grown · 83rd & Stony Island · Chicago
Sweetest melonsin the city.
Eighteen summers on this corner. Every week he drives South and hand picks the fruit himself, farm by farm, so every melon on the tarp was chosen by the man whose name is on the truck.
On the truck this week
You cannot get this
at the grocery store.
Seeded melons, the way they used to taste, plus whatever else the Southern farms are running. Stock turns over every week. When it is gone, it is gone until the next haul.
Yellow Melon
Honey sweet, almost floral. Ask for a wedge before you commit, that is the whole point.
$18 to $25 Ask for a taste
Orange Melon
The rare one. Sweeter than red, softer than yellow. Sells out first most weekends.
$18 to $25 Limited each haul
Georgia Peaches
Tree ripened and hauled straight up. Bought by the basket, eaten in the car.
By the basket In season now
Soursop
Creamy and tart at once. Brought up when the farms have it, gone the same weekend.
Seasonal Call ahead to hold
Mandarin Oranges
Picked with the leaves still on. Sweet enough that kids finish the bag in the back seat.
Seasonal By the bag
Collard Greens
Cut fresh and sold by the head. On the truck from November through the holidays.
2 heads for $12 From November
Fresh Pecans
Southern grown, still in the shell. Ask what came in this week.
Ask at the truck By the bag
Raw Honey
Thick and unfiltered, straight from the farm. Good on a biscuit, better off the spoon.
Ask at the truck Jars while they last
Cold Pressed Juice
Seeded red and seeded yellow, bottled under his own Southern Grown label. One hundred percent watermelon, nothing added.
Red & Yellow Limited each batch, ask at the truckWhat twenty dollars buys
You are probably wondering
why it is not four dollars.
Fair question. A grocery store melon is picked early so it survives the trip, shipped green and stacked on a pallet. Here is what happens to yours instead.
01
Southern grown, picked by hand
Every week he drives South and picks the fruit himself, farm by farm. He smells, taps and tastes two or three off each load before he takes it.
02
Held for $3
Text what you want. It sits with your name on it so the size you drove for is still there when you arrive.
Hold one now
03
Cut before you pay
Ask and he opens one. You taste it standing there. Nobody at a grocery store is going to do that for you.
04
Carried to your car
Roll the window down at the curb. A big melon is heavy and he has been doing this eighteen years.
05
Three day exchange
Overripe or underripe, bring it back with the whole melon and he swaps it. The risk is his, not yours.
All year on the corner
Melons are
only the summer.
The truck does not pack up in September. What is on the tarp changes with the season, and it comes from the same Southern growers every time.
May to September
Melon Season
- Red seeded melon $15–$20
- Yellow & orange $18–$25
- Peaches, pecans, honey Ask
- Soursop & mandarins Seasonal
October
Pumpkins
- Pumpkins, all sizes $5–$6
- Late melons while they last $15–$20
- Cold pressed juice To order
November
Greens & Trees
- Collard greens, 2 heads $12
- Christmas trees arrive Late Nov
- Pecans and honey for the holiday Ask
December
Christmas Trees
- Fresh cut trees All month
- Collard greens $12 / 2 heads
- Cold pressed juice To order
Where the melons come from
The run
south.
Once a week, twice when a holiday is coming, he drives South and picks every crate himself. He has called the same growers for years. He smells, taps and tastes two or three melons off each load before he takes it.
That is the reason he can stand behind every melon on the tarp. He picked it.
- 1,050 miMissouriFarmland he owns and works in the off season
- 1,400 miLouisianaEarly season melons when Chicago is still cold
- 1,600 miMississippiSeeded reds, the backbone of the truck
- 1,800 miGeorgiaPeaches, pecans and yellow melon
- 2,300 miFloridaThe long haul, run twice before a holiday
5
Farm states run every week
2,300
Miles on the long haul to Florida
3
Colors of melon on the tarp
Why this corner matters
A route
worth keeping.
- Black owned
- South Side rooted
- Southern grown
After the Civil War, Black farmers in the South built real income growing watermelon. The Great Migration carried that trade north, one truckload at a time.
Chicago, Detroit, New York. Somebody loaded a truck down south and drove it to a corner where their people lived. The Watermelon Man is still running that route. Same farms, same fruit, same corner, eighteen summers deep.
Buying a melon here is not charity. It is a better melon, and the money stays on 83rd Street.
The regulars
People send their
husbands for these.
Customers drive in from Tinley Park. A bakery two blocks over buys six or seven at a time. Nobody comes here once.
18K following on Instagram
“If you want the best and you want it fresh, you absolutely have to come here.”
Quoted in Block Club Chicago
“I haven’t gotten a bad one from here yet.”
Quoted in Block Club Chicago
Buys six or seven at a time, and turns them into watermelon soft serve.
Reported in Block Club Chicago
Overripe or
underripe?
He guarantees the ripeness. If a melon comes out overripe or underripe, bring it back and he swaps it, no argument. That is the part he controls, because he is the one who picked it.
- Bring the whole melon or both halves
- Within 3 days of buying it
- Even exchange, not a cash refund
Beyond the corner
The truck
travels.
83rd and Stony Island is home base, not the only stop. If you are running something in Chicagoland, the truck can come to you.
Where to catch him
Sundays: the Bronzeville Farmers Market, 4700 S King Dr, 10am to 2pm, through the market season. The corner stays open the same day.
Beyond that, festivals, block parties, church functions and markets across Chicagoland. Dates get posted on Instagram first, so follow the page to see where the truck lands next.
Follow On InstagramBook the truck
for your event
Cookouts, family reunions, block parties, corporate days, school events. He brings the melons, cuts on site, and can press juice to order right there.
Three trucks and a crew, so a booking does not close the corner.
Text about an eventWholesale
Restaurants, bakeries, grocers, juice bars, caterers, gyms and senior living. Orders start at 20 to 30 melons and go up from there, same Southern growers, same hand picking, delivered. Cold pressed juice by the case as well.
Call for wholesale pricingBefore you drive over
Questions people
actually ask.
Because it is not the same melon. A store melon is picked early so it survives shipping, then sits on a pallet for days. Yours was on a Southern farm this week and got chosen by a man who tasted the load before he took it. You cannot get this at the grocery store, and that is not a slogan, it is the actual reason for the price.
Ask him to cut one. He will open a melon right there and hand you a wedge, so you taste it before you decide.
He guarantees ripeness. If it comes out overripe or underripe, bring back the whole melon or both halves within three days and he exchanges it. It is an even swap, not a cash refund.
Every day except Wednesday, 10am to 7pm, holidays included. He is at 8300 S Stony Island Ave at 83rd Street in Avalon Park. On Sundays you can also find him at the Bronzeville Farmers Market on King Drive, 10am to 2pm. Instagram is the fastest way to confirm before you drive over.
Yes. Holding is $3 an order, paid when you pick it up, and it stays with your name on it. Sizes sell out on weekends, so if you want a big one it is worth the three dollars.
Cash is easiest and it is what most people bring. If that is a problem, call the truck at (414) 750-5606 before you drive over and he will tell you what he can do that day.
Yes. Cookouts, family reunions, block parties, church functions, corporate days and school events across Chicagoland. He brings the melons, cuts on site, and can press juice to order. Text (414) 750-5606 with your date.
Wholesale starts at 20 to 30 melons and goes up from there. Restaurants, bakeries, grocers, juice bars and caterers. Same growers, same hand picking, delivered. Call for pricing.
Find the truck
Pull up
to the curb.
83rd & Stony Island
8300 S Stony Island AveAvalon Park, Chicago, IL 60617
- Monday10:00am – 7:00pm
- Tuesday10:00am – 7:00pm
- WednesdayClosed
- Thursday10:00am – 7:00pm
- Friday10:00am – 7:00pm
- Saturday10:00am – 7:00pm
- Sunday10:00am – 7:00pm
Open every holiday.
Cash is easiest. Street parking on Stony Island, or roll your window down and he will bring it to the car.
Hold one for me
Sizes sell out on weekends. Holding is $3 an order, paid at pickup, and it stays with your name on it until you get there.
What is next
Set in stone
on Stony Island.
The truck was always the start. The goal is a storefront on this same corner, selling the same Southern grown produce, open all year instead of packing up when the weather turns.
Peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and squash next to the collards, the trees and the melons. Fresh food on 83rd Street in February, not just in July.
- Open all year
- Same Southern growers
- Still 83rd & Stony Island
Nothing is signed yet. Until it is, the way to help is simple. Buy your melons here.