Photo by Deb Gau Students at Southview Elementary enjoyed fresh watermelon with lunch on Thursday. The Marshall Public School District served up more than 1,000 pounds of melon purchased from area growers this week. MPS Food Service Director Mike Carlson said the district tries to buy locally-grown produce and beef each year.

MARSHALL — On Wednesday, cafeteria staff at Marshall Public Schools were busy preparing a special delivery.

More than a half-ton of locally-grown watermelons headed for lunch trays at all five MPS schools the next day.

“They were big. About a 28 to 30-pound watermelon was the average size,” said MPS Food Service Director Mike Carlson.

Chopping up all that fruit took a while, Carlson said, but the payoff would come from seeing students come through the lunch line.

As the kitchen opened up for lunch at Southview Elementary on Thursday, lots of kids were choosing scoops of watermelon chunks on their trays.

Carlson said Taher food service works with area farmers to purchase some of the food served at MPS. The watermelons came from Ruppert’s Garden Produce, of rural Currie. For Thursday’s lunch menu, each MPS school got around 10 to 12 melons. All together, the produce delivery weighed about 1,050 pounds, he said.

“We’ll see how today goes,” Carlson said.

Depending on how popular the melons were, Taher might get more while Ruppert’s has them available.

Carlson said Taher also purchases some of its meat from local producers each year as well. In the past, they’ve held grill-out events for the patties and hot dogs made from locally-produced beef.