Newberry Watermelon Festival celebrates agriculture — and boosts local pride

NEWBERRY, Fla. (WCJB) -For many, watermelons are more than a summer fruit — they’re a source of livelihood. That’s the message organizers of the 81st Annual Newberry Watermelon Festival said they hoped to highlight this year, as the longtime tradition once again drew big crowds.

The event, billed as the longest-running watermelon festival in the United States, featured a full slate of activities centered on local agriculture and community traditions — including parades, a pageant, seed spitting and plenty of watermelon eating.

“We do still have agriculture here, we’re not just neighborhoods and shops,” one festivalgoer said.

Festival committee president Kathryn Thomas said the celebration is meant to remind residents and visitors that farming remains a major part of life in and around Newberry, even as development grows along major roadways.

“To understand we do have agriculture here, because a lot of people don’t know there’s crops right on the other side of Highway 26,” Thomas said. “You see all the houses and you see the new neighborhoods, but you’re not necessarily seeing all the agriculture.”

One of the festival’s signature events, the Watermelon Queen Pageant, continued this year with the crowning of a new queen.

For some, the festival is also a personal tradition that spans generations. Amanda Barlow, owner of Doda’s Doodles, said she attended the festival as a child — and now brings her own kids while participating as a vendor.

“[I] come here with my family and walk around, eat watermelon and look at all the cool things… and now to be able to do this and my kids come and look at it with me too, it’s really cool,” Barlow said.

The festival also marked another stop in TV20’s hometown tour coverage with Kristin Chase & Aj Willy.

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