Vineline Newsletter

On June 19-22, Brooke traveled to Hampton for the annual Hampton Watermelon Festival. She was joined there by Esther Chappell and Gracen Vaughn who rode in the parade with our Queen. During the weekend, Brooke visited Coosaw Farms, Williams Farms, Kinard Farms and F.H. Dicks Company. We also had the pleasure of having Kendra Kennedy join us for the farm visits.

June 28, found us at the S.C. Farmers Market where Brooke passed out delicious watermelon slices of cool watermelon. Brooke spent July 4th and 5th in Daytona Beach, Florida with Florida Coordinator, Debra Harrison and Florida Watermelon Queen, Megan Morgan. The group served watermelon at the NASCAR race where Ross Chastain was a driver. They also had an in-store Bi-Lo promotion in Orlando, Florida.

On July 3-6, Emily Dicks filled in while Brooke was in Florida at our annual Charleston River Dogs promotional weekend. Three in-store promotions were completed in the Charleston area and then Emily joined Matt Cornwell, Rusty Kinard, Benny Hughes, Chris Cortez and Dr. Tony Keinath for the huge watermelon cutting at the River Dogs Stadium. As in years past, this was a very successful promotion for the S.C. Watermelon Association and Emily did a wonderful job as our queen for the event.

The Blackville Field Day on July 10th, brought in a record crowd. Brooke had a wonderful time with our growers and visitors. She especially enjoyed going into the field and learning all of the up to date growing information on our product. Gilbert Miller did an outstanding job of planning this year’s event. On July 11-12, Brooke was in Bluffton and Hilton Head working with Food Lion and Walmart.

The Pageland Watermelon Festival parade was held on July 19th. Brooke was honored to ride in the parade as the S.C. Watermelon Queen. After the parade, we were able to meet with Billy Jenkins and his family for a short visit and many pictures. Billy and his family had numerous entries in the parade and all of the Jenkins grandchildren were able to participate.

The MarDel Queen Tour took place on July 30-August 2. Queen Coordinator, Caitlin Givens did a great job of coordinating all of the events for those in attendance. The events were an interview with Froggy 99.9, watermelon slices on Rehoboth Boardwalk, Giant Foods, Laurel Auction Market, Annapolis Crab Feast, and Whole Foods. We were also treated to a wonderful lunch at Melon 1 with the Lapide family. Thanks go to Patty Lapide Oesterle and Alisa Lapide for taking the time to join us at several events and also for planning the delicious lunch.

In August, the S.C. Watermelon Association provided watermelon slices to The Clemson Tigers, The USC Gamecocks, The Citadel Bulldogs, The South Carolina State Bulldogs and The Presbyterian Blue Hose.

Thanks go to Brooke Bell, our first runner-up for filling in at the Presbyterian and Clemson cuttings.

Summers Slaton McBride and Brooke attended the Schutzenfest Festival in Ehrhardt, S.C. on August

15-16. After the parade, Brooke and Summers were treated to lunch by Rusty Kinard at Rusty & Paula’s Restaurant in Bamberg, S.C.

Brooke and I are looking forward to the upcoming events in September and October – Legislative Visits in Washington, D.C., the S.C.

State Fair with Joe Poon, PMA in Anaheim, CA., and The Marine Marathon in Washington, D.C.

Another wonderful watermelon year is coming to a close. We sincerely hope that it has been a profitable and fulfilling one for each and every one of you.