CAVE CITY -- This weekend poses a tough choice for Arkansans enamored of watermelon. That's because both of the Natural State's long-running watermelon festivals are scheduled at the same time.
One answer to this overlap would be to attend both events, whose main activities take place Saturday. But Hope and Cave City are 220 miles apart, which would turn a doubleheader road trip into a melon-madness marathon.
Summer after summer, Hope's festival manages to capture a bigger slice of publicity than Cave City's. To balance that equation a bit, this preview is giving top billing to the 37th annual Cave City Watermelon Festival, the year's biggest deal in this northeast Arkansas town of 1,900.
Cave City boasts that the sandy soil in surrounding Sharp and Independence counties "makes our watermelons the world's sweetest." A melon bought on a recent visit was delectably sweet and juicy. Whether it actually qualified as one of the sweetest anywhere would require a globetrotter's tasting odyssey, given that watermelons are grown on every continent except Antarctica.
The first Cave City festival, in 1980, featured Bill Clinton as guest of honor. Then in his first term as Arkansas governor, the future U.S. president rode in a parade that attracted an estimated 2,400 spectators.
This year's supply of Cave City melons is said to be ample. Candidates for the melon blue ribbon will be judged at 5 p.m. today in the city park, site of most events. Friday's happenings will include the Watermelon Speed Eating Contest at 5 p.m. followed by a rodeo at 8.
Another round of the rodeo will start at 8 p.m. Saturday. That day's events will begin with the 5K "Melon Dash" at 7 a.m. The parade will step off at 10 a.m., followed by the Antique Tractor Show at 11:30 a.m. There will be Watermelon Grower Games at 3 p.m., the free Watermelon Feast and Seed Spitting Contest at 4 p.m., and the Prize Melon Auction at 5 p.m. Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives will perform at 8 p.m.
Cave City has another attraction for visitors to the festival -- its Crystal River Tourist Camp, on the National Register of Historic Places. This example of 1930s folk architecture was described in its National Register application as "quirky, unusual, puzzling and fantastic." The lodging went out of business years ago, but it remains a sight to behold.
The Hope Watermelon Festival has a longer and more varied history than Cave City's. Hope's first version ran yearly from 1926 to 1930. It was inspired by local efforts to grow the largest possible melons, a theme that continues today.
The Great Depression put an end to the early version of Hope's festival, but the celebration was revived in 1977. On display this weekend will be some of this year's largest melons, weighing as much as 200 pounds.
Most events in Hope take place Saturday. On the schedule for 11:30 a.m. that day is the Politically Correct Watermelon Eating Contest. The regular Watermelon Eating Contest begins at noon. That's followed by the Seed Spitting Contest at 1.
Capping Saturday's program will be an 8:30 p.m. concert by the Oak Ridge Boys, following a 7:30 appearance by reigning Miss America Betty Cantrell. A Georgian, she sang an aria from Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the national pageant.
Should the performers ask for requests from the audience, there's always "The Watermelon Song," recorded in 1957 by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Its down-home lyrics evoke a melon-lover's passion: "See that watermelon hangin' on the vine, I wish that watermelon could be mine."
Admission is free to the Cave City Watermelon Festival grounds. Tickets to Friday's rodeo are $5 ($3 for ages 6-12). It costs $10 to enter the event's Kid's WetZone water park. For details, call (870) 283-5301 or visit cavecitywatermelonfestival.com.
Admission is free to the Hope Watermelon Festival. Tickets to the Oak Ridge Boys concert on Saturday evening are $40 for reserved seating, $15 for general admission, $6 for youngsters 4-10. For festival details, call (870) 777-3640 or visit hopechamberofcommerce.com.
Weekend on 08/11/2016