Come down to the melon patch in Naples
“The lawnmower races will be immediately following the parade.” —VirGinia Fleming, festival organizer
NAPLES, Texas—Watermelons are beloved in Naples, so much so they’ve been celebrating them for eight decades in this East Texas town.
The 80th annual Naples Watermelon Festival is celebrated today and Saturday, the main day, with free watermelon slices and much more in the way of small-town goodness, including ever-popular arts and craft vendors, festival grub, lawnmower racing, live music and competitions in such pastimes as cornhole and horseshoes.
All of this is held at the town’s Melon Patch, where the festivities are casual and informal, says one of the festival’s longtime organizers and advocates, VirGinia Fleming. Asked about the hours, she said, “From the time you get there until you want to leave.”
Vendors will be setting up today, and she says about 100 arts and craft vendors are scheduled to participate. Fleming says the local estimate for the annual number of attendees is between 3,000 and 5,000 people in a town of roughly 1,300.
Highlights this year include beer, wine and frozen wine drinks available in the Windell Cobb Memorial Melon Shed, which was remodeled and refurbished for this year. That shed is named for another longtime festival backer, with whom Fleming worked to purchase the five acres of the original Melon Patch. Now it’s grown to about 10 acres.
A 10 a.m. parade Saturday morning is another highlight.
“The lawnmower races will be immediately following the parade,” Fleming said.
As for the main attraction, that has to be the juicy, delicious watermelons themselves, the reason for the festivities. This year’s theme is “Summer Fun.”
“We cut 650 watermelons to give away from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Saturday). If anybody wants to buy them, we will sell them,” Fleming said. But the main idea is to give watermelon slices to anyone who wishes to eat them.
This year, the watermelons are shipped in to this Morris County town from Cass County. Organizers have their own truck for this job. As for other tasty festival fare, about 10 food vendors will provide those treats, the kind one typically enjoys at gatherings of this nature.
“I know there’s some barbecue and corny dogs and sno-cones and funnel cakes,” Fleming said.
Among the other highlights are horseshoes and cornhole, with horseshoes first at 12:30 p.m. Once the horseshoes are done, cornhole is on. “That usually goes on until 7 p.m., maybe longer,” Fleming said, who’s worked on this festival for about four decades.
For Naples, it’s the biggest event in the county, she said, noting the fact it’s endured 80 years makes it special. Many class reunions are held this weekend because so many people are in town. “We get more people to Naples for this event than anything,” Fleming said.
The festival closes with a 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. street dance Saturday night with the Cole Scoggins Band performing country music.
To get a taste of the 80th annual Naples Watermelon Festival, head to Naples on Saturday.