Toronto

So along with having the opportunity to hang out with some of the most fun-loving, well-rounded, and entertaining people who are involved in the watermelon industry, I also have the pleasure to go on some pretty amazing trips as the Georgia Watermelon Queen. One being going to Toronto, QC, Canada (or as the Canadian’s called it “Torono”). This was one of my favorite trips all around so far. If you've ever heard that Canada has the friendliest people, believe it!!!

Within our first day, a man stopped randomly to talk about the best things to go sight-see (partly because we were the classic tourist standing outside of our hotel holding a map looking lost), we received a free appetizer, and sat for over an hour talking to a couple of older ladies who were absolutely amazed about the fact I was the Georgia Watermelon Queen. The first night we were taken care of by Ms. Ginny, who took us to the most amazing Porteguese restaurant, then went fast asleep for the full weekend ahead of us. Friday we had the opportunity to appear on a Roger’s network television show. All three queens who were there for the weekend had an important part in the show (me, FWA Queen Brandi Harrison, and NWA Queen Amber Nolin). These included the nutritional benefits of watermelon, spreading the word about our Longo’s store promotions, how to safely store a watermelon, and how to pick one. The last and most interesting part of the show was the live watermelon-eating contest, me and Brandi were the judges! That night we had a blast going to see the play the Wizard of Oz in a cool local theatre and then had the opportunity to see some local bands in Toronto’s downtown square. The next day was filled with Longo’s in-store promotions.

 There were a total of three stores we visited: Bathurst, Maple, and Rutherford. Each store we visited was like a grocery store on steroids. They had the most variety of produce and baked goods I’ve ever seen in my life in a grocery store! Every location I emceed a watermelon eating contests for the local kids! The amount of watermelon a child could eat in the matter of a few minutes would astound you! I want to give a special thanks to Mimmo Fransone who was the man in charge Saturday afternoon in all our travels! Along with setting up the promotions and driving us around, he also fed us Tim Horton’s (Canada’s Starbucks) coffee and “Killer” brownies. The rest of the day we had the pleasure of making our way to Niagara Falls.

Fitting a group of seven in a small SUV for a road-trip to Niagara Falls was an experience within itself. Thank you to Julimar Rosado (rep. from the National Watermelon Promotion Board) for driving us and putting up with our crew for the whole weekend. Toronto was a whirlwind of fun. After we arrived home in Atlanta on our 7:30am flight, I almost wished we hadn’t left!