Video: Union County Fair Watermelon Eating Contest

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UNION COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) -There was a mix of sunshine, seeds and lots of watermelons! The Union County fair was in full swing today and people from all over came to participate in some serious watermelon eating.

The watermelons didn’t stand a chance. The watermelon eating contest has been around for over 10 years now and people keep coming back every year to get in on the action.

“Every year it’s really popular, get a few people that come back to do it and a lot of people you can see we had a good crowd of people watching it. And they love to eat it, those kids love it . It’s just something traditional in Mississippi in the summer times, there’s nothing like Mississippi and summer time watermelon you know. It’s a match made in heaven,” said County Extension Director Stanley Wise.

There were three different age groups this year. 4 year olds dug into some small pieces of watermelon, while the pieces got bigger and bigger for kids up to age 12.

“I felt kinda silly, how come? I never dig into a watermelon like that,” said 2nd place winner Victoria Lee.

“My stomach hurt. How many did you eat? Three or four,” said 1st place winner Eli Russell.

“I feel great, I was like oh my gosh I’m really doing it!” said 2nd place winner Raymonde Williams.

Three or four pieces doesn’t sound like much for the one minute competition but this wasn’t the first time for some.

“I was nervous, how come? Because two years ago I didn’t win but I was nervous that I wasn’t going to win this year. What’d you do different? I ate faster! And how about them seeds? I swallowed them!” said 1st place winner Savanna Harlow.

“Let me just tell you something, one minute. You’re trying to eat a lot of watermelon, that’s going to be a lot of watermelon!” added Wise.

This year no adults participated in the contest but we assure you no watermelon went to waste. The fair wrapped up it’s week long event this evening.