Southern watermelon

BY CHARLIE DURDEN

If you're looking for one last weekend adventure before the kids return to school, or searching for ways to beat the heat and still have fun, you are sure to find it at the 3rd Annual Tom Watson Watermelon Festival, Aug. 12, at Hickory Hill, Watson's historic home in Thomson.

Hickory Hill captures a true reflection of rural life in the South. This year, the Watson-Brown Foundation is hosting a celebration to honor the thick-rind watermelon named for Populist Thomas E. Watson.

This free, family festival features arts and crafts, games, contests, an appearance by the newly crowned 2006 Georgia Watermelon Queen and a performance by rising Nashville country music artist Skyla Spencer.

Prizes are awarded for the largest watermelon, best watermelon recipes and watermelon carving. Kids' contests include seed-spitting, three-legged watermelon race and greased-watermelon carry.

Hickory Hill has restored the agricultural aspect of this historic site, growing 5,000 to 8,000 pounds of watermelons each year.