Watermelons will be celebrated in Newberry

By Carrie A. Mizell

From beauty queens and lively floats, to seed spitting and hog calling, the 65th Annual Newberry Watermelon Festival offers a variety of free entertainment, sure to please every member of the family.
This year’s festival will be held on Saturday, May 15 at Canterbury Equestrian Showplace.
The majority of the festival’s watermelon-related events will take place on the day of the festival.
However, pageants for babies, children and teens will actually start this Friday, May 7 at 7 p.m. when the children and teen pageants are held. Open to youth ages 5 to 16, the pageants will be held at Oak View Middle School in Newberry.
On Saturday, May 8, pageants for baby and junior king and queen will be held beginning at 9 a.m., also at Oak View Middle School. These pageants are open to children ages 0 to 4.
Also on May 8, country singer John Berry will take the stage at the Newberry High School Auditorium to perform hit songs.
The concert, which starts at 7 p.m., will feature Berry performing past hits, including “Your Love Amazes Me,” with “She’s Taken a Shine” and “Standing on the Edge of Goodbye” to name a few. Berry will also be performing several songs from his new CD, “Those were the Days.”
Tickets are $20 each and available at any of the eight Gator Domino’s locations or for delivery with any pizza purchase. Haven Hospice in Gainesville and in Chiefland will also be selling tickets.
The concert is being presented by WTRS Thunder Country and Domino’s Pizza.
All proceeds raised will benefit the 65th Annual Watermelon Festival and Haven Hospice.
The 2010 Watermelon Queen pageant will be held on Friday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. The winner of this year’s title will not be crowned until 6:30 p.m. on the day of the watermelon festival.
Other events planned for the 2010 festival include a lavish parade, beginning at 9 a.m., a sponsors party at 4 p.m. and an auction at 4:45 p.m. Craft booths will be set up throughout the day.
Carnival rides and games will also be open on Friday, May 14 through Sunday, May 16.
If carnival rides don’t sound appealing, attend the 3rd Annual Hospice Rodeo which will be held on Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15.
Each year festival-goers anticipate the many colorful contests held at the annual celebration of watermelon. Contests being held in 2010 include: watermelon rolling for children 5 and under, watermelon eating, seed spitting and hog calling.
For more information on the 2010 Newberry Watermelon Festival, call (352) 278-5190.