November 30, 2010

Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, is shown with a watermelon from Hope (Hempstead County); circa 1965. Hope claims the title of “Home of the World’s Largest Watermelons.” Hope annually celebrates this distinction with a yearly watermelon festival. The event first originated in 1926 and has been ongoing, though not continuous, since 1977. A four-day event the second week in August, it is sponsored by the Hope-Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce. Activities include watermelon-eating and seed-spitting contests, fiddling, arm wrestling contests, and as many as 200 vendors displaying their wares.