Watermelon Festival Weekend!
Watermelon festivals are a summer tradition in Arkansas. This year signals the 35th anniversary event for the Cave City Watermelon Festival (Aug. 7-9), whose city tagline is ‘home of the world’s sweetest watermelons.’
In Hope during that same time frame ( Aug. 7-9) will be another chance to catch a watermelon celebration, this one honoring the town’s famous giant watermelons-three of which have harnessed world records!
The Hope Watermelon Festival opens at noon on Thursday with the opening of the many arts and crafts booths ( open all weekend) on that day. Saturday for the festival is a very full agenda including a Big Bass Classic at Millwood State Park. The lineup for the rest of the day includes events like a 5K run, a car show, a youth fishing derby at Lake Huckabee, and watermelon themed events like a politically correct watermelon eating contest and a seed spitting contest. Live music will also be heard and this year’s concert will showcase Arkansas native Barrett Baber(who recently won the Arkansas tourism song contest) as an opening act for country musician David Nail, who is set to perform at 8:30. For a peek at the complete festival lineup, check out hopechamberofcommerce.com.