Rocky Ford Cantaloupes Coming To Colorado Grocery Stores This Weekend

(CBS4) -- Rocky Ford cantaloupes will start rolling into grocery stores across Colorado this weekend.

The family farmers of the Rocky Ford Growers Association have been busy over the last couple of months planting and nurturing their world-famous melons.

The cantaloupes are picked daily through the growing season and will go from the field to the grocery store in about 12 hours.

It's the hot days and cool nights in the Arkansas River valley that make those melons so sweet, but the weather makes putting these Colorado favorites on the table a challenge.

This spring, hailstorms caused some farmers to lose up to 30% of their crops.

In 2019, Gov. Jared Polis officially declared Aug. 7 Rocky Ford Cantaloupe Day.