81st annual Newberry Watermelon Festival returns this Saturday

NEWBERRY, Fla. (WCJB) - The 81st annual Newberry Watermelon Festival is back in the city this Saturday.

In 1946, the city of Newberry had its first watermelon festival to give thanks to the agriculture industry.

“The area really migrated away from mining because of World War 1 and more into agriculture. The soil here just is beneficial for this kind of a crop” Mayor Tim Marden said.

The festival has grown but the traditions remain as the community prepares for the 81st annual festival on Saturday.

One of those traditions being the Watermelon Queen Pageant.

“My family grows a variety of crops right here outside of Newberry but of course, we grow my favorite, watermelons,” said Braley Hines, current Watermelon Queen. “I grew up in the industry. A large part of the job of queen is to be able to interact with producers. We have a lot of growers in this area who grow a lot of watermelons that go across the state and country so being able to interact with them, but the main job is to be able to take that information and go out and share that with consumers”.

A new watermelon queen will be crowned at the end of the event.

The day starts with speeches, a parade, seed spitting, and watermelon eating.

“The mayor will get to spit out the first seed so that’s become a fun tradition. That sort of kicks off the festival” Marden said.

The festival is happening this Saturday, May 16th from 9:00 to 4:00 at Country Way Town Square.

“Things have changed in Newberry, but this festival is still a way to bring people together to celebrate that tradition and really bring awareness to the fact that this is still an agricultural community, and we are in a very rural area” Hines said.

TV20’s Kristin Chase and AJ Willy will be live at the event on Saturday during both hours of Weekend Wakeup.

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