Cordele's Watermelon Festival and Parade

My next promotion led me to the little town of Cordele again, (which I never have a problem because almost my entire family lives there). Friday we had the opportunity to go up in hot air balloons again, but not only this I was also joined by the Chick-fil-A cow! It was glorious!! The site for the promotion was set up right beside I-75, so it attracted a lot of travelers heading south. My main job was to pass out watermelon to crowd and advertise the benefits of eating watermelon and also the upcoming Cordele watermelon festival. The next morning was the much anticipated Cordele Watermelon Parade. I have grown up going to this parade every year, so it really meant a lot to me to have the opportunity to ride in the parade. I rode in a red-hot watermelon themed convertible mustang, and was driven by my loving grandfather Tommy Mitchell (Love you Granddaddy!).

Thank you so much to Richard of Cordele’s Sunbelt Ford for letting us borrow the car! The rest of the day was filled with lots of watermelon fun. First we went to a luncheon that was attended by our State Representative Sanford Bishop, along with fellow GWA members Buddy and Margie Leger. Then we headed to the watermelon festival. Although I did not do my best at the watermelon seed-spitting contest, there were a bunch of people who did. Our winner spit a distance of about 25 ft!! I really appreciated everyone who came out to support us at this event, which included Mr. Rich Chastain, Pam and Rusty Autry, and my mom and sister, Janice and Ila Mitchell.

Our next event that day was the Sweet Melon Contest. We rounded up four different melons from surrounding growers, and I had the privilege of being the main judge in deciding who had the sweetest watermelon. We really appreciate all of the growers who donated a melon for the contest! Congratulations again to our winner Wavell Robinson!

The Taste of Melon and Farm Tour

As I’m on the flight on the way to Toronto I realized how far behind I was on my blog! This doesn't mean my past few promotions haven’t been as meaningful though I assure you. The past couple of weeks I've learned the true value of coffee, Red Bull, and 5-Hour Energy drinks. We have been traveling so much and promoting this fine vegetable with our up-most energy! I’ll begin where I left off at… Right after our commissary tour we had a couple of days break before we headed to Tifton, GA for our first farm tour! Sakata Seed was gracious enough to allow us to join them on their information session at a local farm. The whole crew consisted of Mr. Jerry Moore, a couple of guys from Moore Farms (Brock and Tyler), and the “Watermelon King” himself a senior breeder from Sakata seed. The entire time my ears were wide open trying the grasp the countless amount of facts that were being covered, and I will gladly accept the title the crew gave me: the kid in high school you always wanted to sit beside in class because of the large amount of notes they took. Did you know the seeds in seedless watermelon are called “pips” and are just seeds that are not fully developed? I sure didn’t. The day on the farm tour was blast, and I can’t wait to go again. My next exertion was to the Cordele Watermelon Festivities. This started the very next day after the farm tour in good ole Cordele, Watermelon Capitol of the World of course! I was a part of the “Taste of Melon” television show ran by Mr. Phil Streetman who I’ve known for years and was super excited when I found out I would be interviewed by him. Because I grew up in Cordele, Mr. Phil  of course knew both sets of my grandparents and had a great time fitting that into the conversation. This was a great opportunity for us to also advertise the seed-spitting contest the GWA would be holding the upcoming weekend! 

Happy Late Father's Day! I hope everyone had a fabulous father's day because there are some great dads out there who deserve a lot of gratitude and love for everything they do (including mine, I love you Daddy!). I also wanted to fill everybody in on the rest of my weekend. I had so much fun traveling to both of the locations we stopped at on our military commissary tour! Everyone was so welcoming and helpful, it couldn't have gone better. Our first location was at the Air Force base in Warner Robins, GA. Charles Willingham who was in charge of getting us there and helping us through the promotion, was unbelievable. Along with helping us bring people to our promotion table, he also did a great job of entertaining us in the process! We had a table set up in front of the store, and with the help of a large discount on the watermelons they had available, we were a large attraction. Our next stop was at Fort Benning! This is one of the largest bases I've ever seen, so I was extremely excited to travel there for a promotion. Scott Davis, who handles all of the produce involved in the commissary located on the base, was rearing to go right when we

arrived! Mr. Scott had created a large watermelon display that was perfect for our in-store promotion.We were constantly busy the entire time passing out anything from stickers and coloring books to watermelon samples. This was actually the busiest in-store promotion we have been a part of thus far! I had a blast all day, and there was literally never a dull moment. Throughout the entire weekend, I think I learned at least three new ways on how to pick the best melon out of the watermelon bin. My favorite was hearing how you can lay a piece of straw from an old broom on a watermelon and if it spins, it's good and ripe. Overall, it was a great weekend for the promotion of watermelons! I want to say a BIG thank you to Mr. Charles, Mr. Scott, and Seth (Scott's right-hand man) on letting us be a part of your stores and helping us along the way!

Visit the Georgia Watermelon Association's website www.georgiawatermelonassociation.org or our Facebook page

Hello again! Today I got the pleasure to sit down with Mrs. Ruthie Garner from WALB News 10 for a news segment about Cordele's Watermelon Day's Festival Events. The show was aired in Flint River Pottery of Cordele, GA, and was honored with some other special guests. John Woodard was there being recognized for his long farming services within Cordele and was actually selected to be the Grand Marshall in Cordele's Parade coming up on June 22. Along with him was other Watermelon Royalty, the newly crowned Watermelon Capital Queens. Other guests in the special included Patsy Grimsley (a local author), Laura Stephens (PR Director of Crisp Regional), Monica Simmons and Justin Lanier (Crisp Co.'s Exstention Agent) who both talked about the watermelon crop this year and all of Cordele's watermelon functions. Everyone in attendance showed their love of watermelon by expressing their part in Cordele's Watermelon Festivities. I had the pleasure of being in the same segment with the owner of the new Chick-fil-A in Cordele, MeriBeth Davis McNeill, which is located right beside I-75. Before the segment she joked how she would probably win the watermelon-eating contest at Cordele's Festival and shared my love of watermelons. Hopefully we'll be able to do something in the future at her store! It was another great day as the Georgia Watermelon Queen! Everyone make sure to try to make it out to Cordele's Parade and Watermelon Festival on Saturaday, June 22. I assure you, it will be filled with LOADS of watermelon fun!

Stay in touch with the Georgia Watermelon Association at www.georgiawatermelonassociation.org or our Facebook page!

First Blog as the 2013 Georgia Watermelon Queen!

Hey y'all! My name is Carol Anne Mitchell, and I'm the 2013 Georgia Watermelon Queen. What is a Georgia Watermelon Queen you might ask? I am the representative of the Georgia Watermelon Association who's sole purpose is to promote the watermelon industry from production to consumption and are constantly seeking improvements. I am very honored to have the position that I have, and me and my coordinator Samantha Tankersley (who I am forever grateful for because she keeps me straight) never stop trying to think of new ways to promote this industry. One of the ways we thought we could do this was through an up-to-date blog of my travels, as the Georgia Watermelon Queen. So far I have gone on two tv shows, gone to numerous in-store promotions, gone to two truck races to support Ross Chastain (who is graciously sponsored by Melon1 in Florida) from Charlotte to Delaware, attended one festival (Aloft Festival), one watermelon 5k (Cordele, GA), one produce council trade show, and visited one pre-k class (Athens, GA). All of this of course would not be possible without the numerous sponsors I've had from all of my events and the Georgia Watermelon Association.

I grew up in watermelon country. Cordele, GA, where I was born and raised, is known as the "Watermelon Capitol of the World." (The next few events I'll be a part of will actually be located there.) We are coming upon the "Watermelon Days" of Cordele which will sure to be a treat, as they have been for me for the last (almost) twenty-two years. There are watermelon decorating contests, watermelon pageants, a watermelon parade, watermelon idol, watermelon seed spitting contests, watermelon dances, watermelon-bobbing, watermelon-eating contests, biggest melon contests, and of course a watermelon festival, all of which I'm very excited about.

A little bit of information about me: As is only normal of any watermelon queen, I have a slight obsession with anything watermelon. I have watermelon pajamas, jewelry, bouquets, pictures, blankets, aprons, checker's boards, salt and pepper shakers, pillows, bathing suits, cups and plates, and will go crazy over any child with a watermelon outfit (which is only natural because I was raised wearing nothing but watermelon attire). I love the taste, color, smell, feeling it gives you after a big water-gushing-everywhere bite, and its nutritional benefits. My family is just as obsessed and are eternally grateful for everything its industry has provided us through our involvement.

I hope you're as excited as I am for my next blog! Keep up to date with the Georgia Watermelon Association News at www.georgiawatermelonassociation.org or on our Facebook page!