2019 Watermelon Weigh Off

By Staff, 08/31/19 4:04 PM

OLD WASHINGTON-Historic Washington State Park held their Annual “Great Pumpkin Commonwealth Weigh Off” under the Farmers Market Pavilion on August 31.The State Park has been hosting the official weigh offs since 2011. Farmers were from as far as Alabama, Kansas, North East Arkansas, and local. This year seven watermelons were registered to be weighed. Judges measured each melon from side to side, top to bottom, and all the way around to get an estimated weight. They then had the farmers place their watermelons on the scale to get a final weight. The Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce awarded cash prizes to the top three largest melons.

Top Three Watermelons of the Day
1st place $500 Charles Bentley 272.3 pounds
2nd place $300 Steven Jackson 243.4 pounds
3rd place $200 Tony Prochaska 224.9 pounds

Watermelon Weigh Off:
Don Worthy from Hope, Arkansas  

Paxon Lindley from Wynne, Arkansas 181.2 pounds

Becky Lindley from Wynne, Arkansas 199 pounds

Tony Prochaska from Simpson, Kansas 224.9 pounds the new record for the state of Kansas

Jeremy Lindley from Wynne, Arkansas 213.9 pounds

Steven Jackson from Spruce Pine, Alabama 243.4 pounds

Charles Bentley from Grant, Alabama 272.3 pounds

Watermelons from the seeds of previous record holding watermelons:

Becky Lindley’s watermelon was from the seed of the 268 pound record watermelon grown by the Bright Family.

Tony Prochaska’s watermelon was from the seed of the 350 pound record watermelon grown by Christopher Kent in 2013 that currently holds the World Record title.

Jermey Lindley’s watermelon was from the seed of 282.2 pound record watermelon grown by Todd Dawson in 2011.

Steven Jackson’s watermelon was from the seed of 288 pound record watermelon grown by Daniel White on 2018.

Charles Bentley’s watermelon was from the seed of the 140.5 pound record Cantrell watermelon.

To continue following the great pumpkin commonwealth visit bigpumpkins.com