Festival History:
Watermelons have long been a calling card for the City of Hope. The Festival itself dates back to the mid-1920's when the city's Chamber of Commerce staged a one-day Festival each year. The early Watermelon Festivals bear little resemblance to the recent ones. During the 1920's-era festivals, citizens served ice-cold watermelon to passengers on the many trains which stopped in Hope. The festival also featured a "Watermelon Queen" pageant and a large parade. These early festivals brought upwards of 20,000 people in a day to Hope. The end to the first festivals came about 1931 when the city, suffering from the effects of the depression, could no longer accommodate the crowds.
Photo Courtesy of the Hope Star 1927 – Entry in the 1927 Parade. Mr. Lowthorp created the Hope market for giant watermelons through business and railroad convention contacts in the off-season. These men of Rocky Mound and Shover Springs supplied him with the giants for his sales. The group included four men who grew world record giant watermelons. Arthur Powell grew the winning melon for 1927 in the Rocky Mound community.
Hope celebrated its centennial in 1975. The event was a rousing success and local residents started thinking about another celebration. Local promoter and newspaper man C.M. "Pod" Rogers organized a new Watermelon Festival in 1977. The success of this first reorganized festival led to the event gaining annual status. Since the 1970's, the festival has continued to grow, attracting approximately 20,000 visitors to Hope over a three-day period.
PRESENT DAY FESTIVAL
This year's Hope Watermelon festival will feature numerous activities including Arts & Crafts, food, entertainment and other family-oriented activities. Nearly 150 Arts and Crafts booths will be set up at the festival grounds.
The Arts and Crafts come from a 6 state area. The festival also features dozens of food booths, serving everything from burgers and corn dogs to pork rinds and "chicken-on-a-stick". You will want to try the festival desserts as well! They are out of this world!
Local civic clubs host dinners featuring such down-home fare as locally grown smoked chicken and golden fried catfish. The Watermelon Festival features a variety of musical talent each year. What else can you do at the festival? You can participate in a 5K race, take in a dog show, enjoy the car show & bike show, enter the "Watermelon Idol" talent contest, bring kiddos to play in the Kidz Zone, enter the seed spitting contest, or enter a county-wide Baggo Tournament. You will be amazed at the Thursday night family entertainment & Friday night headliner concert! New in 2020, a Saturday night Rock n’ Roll FEST on the Main Stage. Come dressed in your best 60’s/70’s rock n’ roll outfit and be prepared to dance the night away!
Returning this year - the Watermelon Olympics will be held, pitting local teams against each other in such events as the melon-toss. You may also enjoy an antique engine show featuring old steam engines. The festival also features a number of melon-oriented events such as the seed-spitting contest and the Politically Correct Watermelon eating contest. And what of the famous Hope melons? Those attending will be able to see some of the bigger melons of the year, some tipping the scales at close to 200 pounds. Ice-cold watermelon will be sold by the slice for $1.25 each day and numerous melon growers will have whole melons on sale at the festival for visitors to take home.