Popular Mark’s Melon Patch marks 35th anniversary

ALBANY — Mark’s Melon Patch, the 8580 U.S. Highway 82 agritourism mainstay just south of Sasser, celebrates its 35th anniversary this fall.

Mark Daniel developed his entrepreneurial spirit at an early age, and over the last 35 years that spirit has grown into an agritourism business of local and regional acclaim.

What began as a small fruit and vegetable stand under a pecan tree has evolved into a thriving business that draws thousands of visitors every year to enjoy Mark’s distinctly Southern brand of family fun.

The melon patch has a number of attractions, including hay rides, a corn maze, a dunking booth, a corn cannon, face painting, farm animals and live music, along with a large selection of specialty products such as 30 different varieties of pumpkins, sunflowers, sugar cane, honey, jams, jellies, homemade ice cream and other goodies.

“My dad Tom and my uncle Jon were the whole reason that I got started farming,” said Daniel. “I farmed with them until I was about 17. Then, when I was 17, I used their equipment, their land, basically everything, and I would try to pay them back what I could, but you can’t really pay back all of that.

“They helped me get my first little 5-acre watermelon patch started. Then my dad called the guy that owned this property right here, and the owner said it would be OK if I put a truck out here and sold watermelons.”

Daniel had also begun scouting peanut fields for local farmers while still in high school.

“I would scout the fields and tell them what the insect levels were and diseases, that kind of stuff,” he said. “But the 5-acre patch was a big part of what I was doing. That was in high school, during my junior and senior year. I also did it for several years as I went through college. I graduated from UGA in ‘86 and did all of that along the way. It steadily got a little bigger each summer.

“But, you know, I can’t say enough about my dad and uncle. They helped me so much. My dad passed away a few years ago, but my Uncle Jon still helps me to this day. It is an ongoing thing. Also, my good friend J.R. Grubbs really took me under his wing when I was 22. He used to own Grubbs Grocery in downtown Albany, and he taught me so much about retail. He was just a cool old guy.”

According to Daniel, since his father and uncle did not grow vegetables, he began branching out into different crops to augment his watermelons.

“They didn’t grow vegetables,” Daniel said. “I started the vegetable thing on my own, with their help, of course. But they didn’t actively grow vegetables, so, that was like another venture off to the side of what I was doing. Not so much their manual help, as their know-how, concern and equipment. Now my dad charged me for everything. He didn’t let me have it for free. He wanted me to earn my way, which was a blessing as time went by.”

After a few years, Daniel worked out a long-term lease for some land of his own, which he later bought.

“Later on, I bought it and began adding more things, more crops and more employees,” said Daniel. “The building was actually built in the spring of ‘87. Before that, everything had just been under the pecan tree out front that is still standing. We’ve added to the building over time, and then things just kind of evolved slowly.”

It wasn’t long before Daniel began to get requests for tours of the pumpkin patch. The number of requests increased each year until he had no choice but to begin charging a fee.

“The agritourism part of the business just kind of happened because we had requests from people to do a walking tour through the pumpkin patch,” he said. “The schools would come and walk through the sunflowers and walk through the pumpkins, but we didn’t charge anything for it. Finally, it got to the point that it took more to manage, and we had to start charging for the tours.

“As far as the product mix, as far as the crops, we always tried to add something new or a different crop every so often to keep it exciting and keep the customers coming back. We want the customers to be satisfied, and we try to be reactive to what they like and want.”

As the tours expanded, Daniel added hay rides, which were a big hit.

“We started with one wagon behind the tractor,” said Daniel. “As that grew, we added another wagon to the hay ride. More and more schools found out about us, and back then that was something that wasn’t really available anywhere. That’s when we saw that there was a demand for some of the activities that we were adding along the way like the dunking booth, the inflatables and then the other stuff like the corn cannon and the spooky-barn hay maze.

“All of that stuff just kind of happened over time. Last year we added the corn maze, and that was a big hit for us. People were really fascinated by the whole idea of having a design that you cut out using GPS coordinates.”

According to Daniel, 5 acres of corn have been cut into a unique design that can only be discerned when seen from the air. The maze consists of two sections, one a half-mile long and the other 2.5 miles long, featuring various activities along the paths.

“We have games inside of it,” Daniel said. “The interactive games really help encourage people to explore the whole maze and not just get in and get out. We also added the strawberry patch this year. So we are continuing to grow. We enjoy having families come out here.”

Daniel is proud of his family-friendly business, but humbly insists that in no way has the success of the melon patch been just because of him.

“I like to use the word ‘we,’” said Daniel. “It is a group effort here, and I consider all of us that work here a family. I love them all and could not have done it without them. This place is way bigger than just me.”

According to Daniel, last weekend marked the beginning of the fall activity season.

“By this next weekend, we will be in full force,” said Daniel. “All of our activities will be up and running, including four nights of ‘Fun In the Dark Night Hayrides.’ People really enjoy those flashlight rides.”

Also, each weekend in October, the Melon Patch hosts live music from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Musical guests include Harper Trio and Pachitla Creek Pickers (Oct. 1-2), Michael Everson and Bubba Hall (Oct. 8-9), Sundowner Motel and Pachitla Creek Pickers (Oct. 15-16), Bill Harrell and Sundowner Motel (Oct. 22-23) and Megan McMillan and Bubba Hall (Oct. 29-30).

“We just want everybody to come out and have a great time,” said Daniel.