Hope Lions Hear Watermelon Festival Program

Hope/Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce Director Christy Burns gave the Hope Kiwanis Club an update on the 49th annual Hope Watermelon Festival set for August 7th through 9th in Hope’s Park at the club’s meeting Monday (7-22).  Burns said preparations for the festival are going well.  This year’s theme is “Melonpoloosa”.  She took the opportunity to promote the festival shirts.   There will be approximately 20 concessions at the festival.  She said they are still taking applications for vendors but are doing really well with well over 100 vendors committed so far.  Burns noted everything from registration forms for events to concert tickets can be found at hopemelonfest.com.

The festival kicks off Monday August 4th at 6pm with the Watermelon Festival Parade.  Registration for the parade will continue up to Friday August 1st.

Tuesday August 5th the Miss and Mr. Watermelon pageant will be held at the Klipsch Auditorium at City Hall at 6pm.

Festival activities officially kick-off at noon Thursday August 7th at Fair Park with a ribbon cutting.  At this point, the vendors and concessions will open for business.  The Kidz Zone will also open with the jelly ball, the bungee trampoline, and snow cones with more activities set for Friday and Saturday.  The Rusty Wheels Antique Engine Show will open the 7th in the northwest corner of Fair Park.  The Beautiful Baby Contest photos will also be on display at the festival beginning that day.  Ice cold watermelon by the slice will be sold beginning late Thursday afternoon.  A 1/8th melon slice will be $2 while a quarter melon slice will be $3.  The Hope Kiwanis Club will also have their “pulled pork” dinner that evening.  The cost for a pulled pork sandwich and two sides will be $10.  Tickets are now on sale from any Hope Kiwanian or from Teddy Hayes.  Serving will be from 4:30pm until 7pm at the Fair Park Community Center.  Other Thursday activities will include the Watermelon Olympics, the Living Proof Band, and the Dog Show.

Friday August 8th the festival opens at 9am.  There will be more activities in the Kidz Zone including inflatables, pony rides, and camel rides.  Carl Jackson will perform at 2pm on Friday.  At 4pm the “Hometown Strangers” band will perform on the Farmers Bank & Trust stage.  Friday night there will be wrestling at 6pm in the rodeo arena.   Tickets will be on sale soon for the wrestling.  Other activities include the Lions Club Fish Fry at the Fair Park Community Center from 4:30pm to 7pm.  The Washington Vintage Dancers perform Friday evening in front of the coliseum.  The “Melon Jams” open mic night will also be held on Friday.  The corn hole tournament is Friday night and the softball tournament will kick off that evening.  At this point, over 100 teams are signed up for the softball tournament.

Saturday at the festival kicks off with the 5K in the morning.  The Civitan Club will sponsor the car show and there will be a fishing derby at Lake Huckabee.  The Rusty Relics Tractor Club will join the Rusty Wheels on Saturday.  At the Kidz Zone there will be “Money in the Haystack”, Jr. Watermelon Olympics, the Watermelon Duck Races at the pool, and the Hope Piranhas will hold an exhibition at the pool.

At 11am on the Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center Stage, the “Politically Correct” watermelon eating contest will be held and the regular watermelon eating contest for the three age divisions will follow.  The seed spitting will take place at 1pm on the Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center Stage.

Prior to the big concert, there will be a Jr. Watermelon Idol competition for youth aged 5 to 15 as well as the adult Watermelon Idol competition.  Both of these will be on the CMC Stage.  The Night Hawk Band will perform on the Farmers Bank & Trust Stage.  The gates for the concert open at 6pm, the Jr. Watermelon Idol and Watermelon Idol winners perform at 6:30pm.  The Buzz Andrews Band will perform at 7pm.  At 8pm, the “Lead Singers of Classic Rock” will headline the big concert on the CMC stage.  Both Jason Scheff from Chicago and Tommy DeCarlo formerly of Boston will each perform for one hour.  Tickets for the big concert are $25 for general admission.  They go up to $30 on the day of the show.  Children 4 to 10 get in for $10 and reserved seats are also available.  For information you can visit hopemelonfest.com or phone 777-3640.

For more info on the Watermelon Festival visit hopemelonfest.com or phone 870-777-3640.