Detroit is nothing if not a down-home city. The hordes of southern blacks and Appalachian whites who flooded this city seeking auto jobs during the past century have given a distinctly southern air to Detroit, from the southern accents still common among older Detroiters to the homestyle and soul food joints dotting the neighborhoods.

And few things are as down home as selling Georgia watermelons out of the back of an old school bus parked on an empty dirt lot.

This mobile fruit vendor – his name is Reggie – and his bus are parked for the summer on Schaefer south of Seven Mile, on the city’s west side. The bus is stacked with huge watermelons, though Reggie says the most expensive ones are – big surprise! – the tastiest. He also offers pecans, raw peanuts and sweet potatoes, all trucked to Detroit from Georgia in a semi, and all of which he will let you sample.

Expect more of this kind of odd thing as part of detroitblog’s new Guide to Summer, featuring things to do and oddities to see besides the usual summer guide stuff, in a blatant attempt to string together random elements under a glorified umbrella.