By EMILY DORAN

Leader Publications contributor

NILES — A conversation with Jim Shelton, co-owner of Shelton’s Farm Market in Niles, quickly reveals two of his top priorities in life: family and hard work.

His commitment in these areas are evident in the growth of his expansive family-owned business, which has been steadily growing for more than 70 years and is a mainstay in the Michiana area.

To honor Jim’s long-term involvement in the local community, the organizers of the Four Flags Area Apple Festival Grande Parade have appointed him this year’s grand marshal. Jim will sit in a convertible and help lead the parade when it steps off at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at Second Street downtown.

Katie Lowe, parade chairperson and treasurer of the Four Flags Area Apple Festival Executive Board, said the grand marshal is chosen as someone who has “been a part of Niles for many years” and given back to the city.

Jim certainly meets this criterion for appointment as grand marshal. Since moving to Niles with his family in 1947, the Alabama native has been actively and consistently contributing to the local economy.

His commercial achievement in Michiana is, in fact, a quintessential American Dream success story. Over the years, his family has skillfully nurtured Shelton’s Farm Market, converting it from a produce stand to a booming storefront and expanding other related enterprises.

Much like any other American dream success story, Jim’s road to prosperity was not an easy one. When he and his family transplanted to Berrien County, they had to overcome several barriers that might have discouraged less-determined folk.

“I take pride in the fact that with very little in our background that says we can do this, we did it anyway,” Shelton said. “We had a couple of neighbors when we first came out here who said, ‘Those rednecks will never make it on that farm. They don’t know what they’re doing.’”

One obstacle the Sheltons faced was a lack of significant formal education, which they overcame in part by consulting agricultural experts when their farm was still young.

Even the initial state of their house in Berrien Center complicated the Sheltons’ ability to settle down comfortably. 

“There was no water in the house, no bath in the house, no electric upstairs,” Jim said. “The weeds were 4-feet-tall in the yard. My mother said, ‘Please don’t buy this place. Please don’t buy this place.’ Dad said, ‘Too late — we bought it.’ That was home.”

Despite these difficulties, Shelton and his family forged ahead with their growing farm, and in 1959, moved their “shade tree operation” to a fruit stand in Niles.

“As far as the business is concerned, I think that if there’s anything I’ve done that I think has worked out well is I’ve had a good group of people around me, which includes family,” Shelton said. “I’ve been blessed with very good partners. … In the beginning, it was just me and my hard-working, supportive wife, ‘Miss Betty.’ Times were tough, and there would be no Sheltons without her.”

Jim and Miss Betty, who passed in 2015, were married for 60 years.

Today, the market is led by Jim and his two partners, brother Joe, the company’s CFO, and son Mike, the president of Shelton’s Wholesale Co., which distributes produce and other food products within a 150-mile radius of the Berrien County business. Niles mayor Nick Shelton, and Jim’s grandson handles some of the company’s marketing and assists with other business development.

Jim attributes the continued growth of the market to steadfast determination.

“It’s not something you do in five or 10 years,” he said. “It’s something that takes years to do. And it takes some determination. It takes being a little bit stubborn. I don’t believe (that) much of anything is impossible.”

Although Jim’s role at the market has inevitably changed with time — he has somewhat recently been staying indoors to work, which he said allows him to “see more people; I like people” — he never takes a day off.

“I’m still here every day,” he said. “It wasn’t just a job to me — it was something I wanted to do. … I don’t mind the hours.”

While Jim hasn’t actively participated in the Four Flags Area Apple Festival in some time, he was one of the founding six members of the event when it got off the ground in the 1970s. Jim, his son Mike, Marie Majerek and three others sat at that first meeting. Shelton’s was the first donor and the first booth set up downtown at what was once called “the Urban Renewal lot.”

“I’ve always respected the fact that that thing comes back every year and brings that many people in here,” Jim said. “I’ve admired the people that put all the effort into it, especially in the early years. … It’s work.”

For Jim, the grand marshal appointment is an honor.

“I am honored that they would think of me doing this; I really am,” he said.

Lowe said about 50,000 spectators spread out along the 5-mile-long parade route, which typically features between 100 and 110 entries every year. Floats and other decorated entries are entered into sweepstakes and judged on their creativity and incorporation of apples and the festival theme, which is “Riding the Waves to Festival” this year.

For more information about the festival, which is scheduled for Thursday, through Sunday, Sept. 30, visit fourflagsapplefestival.org/.