Shriners selling Vidalia onions to help kids get medical care

A treat from Georgia is back in Havre, on sale to help the North Central Montana Shrine Club help get children to care at Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Shriner Bob Brandon said Sweet Vidalia onions are in stock and ready for sale.

“Last year, we sold 6,000 pounds in one-and-half weeks,” he said.

The sweet Vidalia onion sale is one of the North Central Montana Shrine Club’s main fundraisers through the year. Proceeds from it, and other fundraisers, are used to send children for treatment of burns, cleft lips and palates, orthopaedic care and spinal cord injuries.

Most children helped by the North Central Montana Shrine Club go to the Spokane orthopaedic Shrine hospital, the nearest of the 22 Shiners Hospitals for Children in the country.

The Vidalia onion is recognized by state and federal law, and only is grown in 20 counties in Georgia. The site vidaliaonions.com says it was discovered by a farmer in Toombs County, Georgia, in 1931 when he realized the onions he had planted were sweet, not hot.

After gaining fame through a farmer’s market in Vidalia in the 1940s, stores began selling them as well.

The onions typically are said to be at their best flavor in early May.

North Central Montana Shrine Club is selling the onions for $13 for a 10-pound bag.

They are available at Brandon’s Drapery and Floor Coverings at 517 Second St. and Hank Tweeten’s Auto Body at 120 Main St.