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Washington County puts on yearly free festival [The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.]
[June 25, 2009]

Washington County puts on yearly free festival [The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.]


(News Herald (Panama City, FL) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 25--PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- In its 53rd year, the Panhandle Watermelon Festival will bring free entertainment to Washington County and visitors from across the region on Friday night and all day Saturday, June 26 and 27.



Country music performances are bookends of this year's festival. On Friday night, Daryle Singletary will perform at 6 p.m. at a new venue, Pals Park in Chipley. On Saturday, songwriter and singer Earl Thomas Conley will wrap up the festival at 2 p.m. in the Agricultural Center on U.S. 90.

"The Friday evening entertainment ... this year is a much larger, higher-profile act than in the past," said Paul Goulding, the chairman of the Washington County Tourist Development Council, in e-mail to The News Herald. He said the TDC worked with his public relations company the Goulding Agency, and with sponsors Community South Credit Union, Northwest Florida Community Hospital, Rahal-Miller Chevrolet and Marianna Toyota to bring in Singletary.


On Saturday, the Watermelon Festival Street Fair in downtown Chipley will supplement the main festival in the Ag Center. It will begin with a parade at 10 a.m. and go until 5 p.m., with attractions including dancers, singers and bands, and watermelon decorating and dessert contests At the Ag Center, festivities are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. An all-day art show and sale and car show are among attractions, and more than 90 food and arts and crafts booths will be open. The Big River Bluegrass Band will play from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Watermelon Queen recognition will be at 11:45 a.m., and the annual watermelon auction, which helps pay for the festival, begins at 1 p.m. Then there's the watermelon seed spitting contest, made possible by all the free watermelon slices anyone could want.

Classic country The addition of Singletary on Friday night brings in a young country music traditionalist. His first Nashville album, "Daryle Singletary" came out in 1995, and he since has recorded such hits as "I Let Her Lie," "Too Much Fun," "Amen Kind of Love" and "The Note." His newest CD, "Rockin' In The Country" features the single "Love You With the Lights On." The closing performer, Conley, has a musical track record dating to the late 1960s. His first success was as a songwriter, and his 1983 hit "Holding Her & Loving You," won the Country Song of the Year award in 1983. Conley took a break in the 1990s, according to his Web site biography. He returned, energized, with new material on the CD "Perpetual Emotion" in 1998. The musical performers as well as other free festival activities are made possible by TDC grants as well as sponsorships, Goulding said. "Funding comes from the watermelon auction," he said, "along with the ad sales from the festival program, revenue from vendor booth spaces, etc." He added, "the Washington County Extension Service works very closely with the festival" by providing the Ag Center site and volunteer manpower. Media sponsors this year include radio stations WPAP-FM, Sunny-98 (WFSY-98.5 FM) and the Washington County News.

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