Watermelon Festival draws thousands

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Thousands of people converged on downtown Russellville this past weekend for the 28th annual Franklin County Watermelon Festival.
Crowds poured into the downtown area throughout the weekend to hear music, play games and eat watermelon.
So many folks showed up to eat a free slice of melon, in fact, organizers had no seeds remaining for the seed spitting contest.
"It was a lot of fun," said Jordan Grissom, of Russellville. "We had some watermelon and rode all the rides."
The activities began Friday night with a series of concerts and continued on Saturday. The second annual tractor show attracted more than 100 tractors from across the southeast.
"It was a real good show," said organizer Jerome Jackson. "We had more tractors than last year."
Clifton and Renee Knight, of Decatur, won the festival's biggest watermelon contest for the second consecutive year. The winning melon this year weighed 189 pounds. The couple also had the second largest melon at 164 pounds. Rex Hudson, of Hodges, won third place with a watermelon that weighed 142 pounds.
The best tasting melon was entered by Chris Patterson, followed by Terry Dempsey and Curtis Lindsey.
The best decorated contest was won by Maleah Dalrymple, followed by Angie Hutcheson and Rebecca Romans.
C.D. Patterson won the most unusual melon contest.