Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Melon Festival August 13th-16th

The 22nd annual Hope Watermelon Festival has been set for August 13 through 16 in Fair Park in Hope. The festival features a variety of activities, a wide variety of live music, two dozen food concessions and over 250 arts and crafts booths.

The first Watermelon Festival was held in 1926 when residents of Hope staged a one-day event, which included a parade, beauty pageant and serving cold watermelon to the passengers of the trains which passed through Hope.

This event continued until 1931 when the city was unable to raise the funds and handle the crowds which attended. There were sporadic attempts to hold festivals in the '40's and '50's, however, by 1957 these attempts were ceased.

Hope celebrated its centennial in 1975 with a year-long celebration. Following the success of this event, local newspaper man C.M. 'Pod' Rogers organized a revival of the Watermelon Festival in 1977 in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce. This event was an immediate success and has continued each year since.

Planning for this year's festival is still continuing. Scheduled events will include a seed- spitting contest, a baseball card show, the watermelon Olympics, a watermelon eating contest, a fiddling contest and other activities.

A large variety of music is planned for this year's Watermelon Festival. One highlight will be the return of the 'Spicy Cajuns,' a group from Basile, La. Other musical forms to be represented will include jazz, country, bluegrass, southern gospel and rock.

Persons attending the festival will also have the opportunity to enjoy ice cold watermelon each day for 50 a slice. Several local water-melon growers will also have whole Hope watermelons for sale, enabling attendees to take home 'a slice of the good life.'

There are more activities scheduled at the festival than can be summarized. Some of these will include train rides on a mini-train, an antique car show, a motorcycle show, an arm wrestling contest, square dancing and an antique engine show sponsored by the Rusty Wheels Antique Engine Club.

Further information is available on the Watermelon Festival by calling the Hope/Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce at 870-777-3640.

There is a parking fee if you park on the grounds, but admission to the festival is still free.