Happy Holidays from everyone at the Georgia Wa-
termelon Association! This year has been a blast!

The 2016 GWA Convention is returning to St. Simons Island, GA and will be held at the King & Prince Golf Resort January 29-31! This weekend will be packed with exciting opportunities including educational sessions, receptions and a live and silent auction! Join us to kick off the 2016 watermelon season with food and fellowship! For more information about the weekend’s events, call our office at 706-845-8575.

Our Georgia Watermelon Queen Carla Penney was
busy this fall attending several industry events and
giving testimony to the goodness of watermelon!

Queen Carla was honored to attend and participate in the Marine Corp Marathon promotional weekend in Washington D.C. with the National Watermelon Promotion Board, the NWA and several other state queens for a jam packed and successful promotion!

This amazing team handed out more than 38,000 cups of watermelon to marathon runners! Thank you to NWA for the travel sponsorships and the NWPB for their coordination. While Queen Carla was working hard in Washington, D.C., the GWA

2015 Runner up Queen Andi Dickerson represented Georgia’s industry at PMA Fresh Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you Queen Andi for representing us well!

Also this fall, Queen Carla has been very active in
visiting schools and spreading the word about nu-
tritious and delicious watermelon! She attended an
Ag Day in Bleckley County, and spoke to kids ages

5-15 at Fullington Academy in Cordele, Georgia about what it meant to be the watermelon queen and represent agriculture. These kids loved learning how to pick out a watermelon in the store!

Queen Carla is looking forward to representing the Georgia Watermelon Association at the National Watermelon Association 2016 meeting in February in New Orleans, Louisiana She will do an outstanding job for us there, as she has all year long! Queen Carla is passionate about watermelon and the people within this industry and has worked very hard to be a great representative for us all year long! GWA is very proud of all she has done for us, and we look forward to supporting her in February!

As the year closes, we want to issue a special thanks to all of our donors and sponsors for the

2015 promotional tour. Without your support, the association and queen program would not continue to be the success that it is today!

Sincerely,
Samantha T. Kilgore
GWA Promotions Coordinator
skilgore@asginfo.net

Greetings from the Alabama Association!

The 32nd annual Alabama Watermelon Association Convention was held in February at the Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. The convention was full of fun, excitement, and even karaoke! This year was a great success and a special thank you to all the sponsors: Allen Lund Company, Billy Smith’s Watermelons, Inc., Clifton Seed Company, Genecco Produce, International Paper, LTF Greenhouses, McMelon, Inc, Morgan Wood Products, National Watermelon Association, National Watermelon Promotion Board, RockTenn, Sakata Seed, Sunny Fresh, Valdosta Plant Company, and Williams Manis Produce Marketing. Thank you all for making our convention not only possible, but a great success.

There are a few more people who received awards for their hard work, generosity, and support. Mr. Terry Jones, Southern Quality Shippers received the King Buyer Award and Mr. Rantz Smith, Smith Farms of Bell, Inc received the King Donor Award. Ray Gilliland of Ray Gilliland Melons received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mrs. Corliss Smith of Billy Smith’s Watermelons received the Jan Ware Award. Mr. Jay Jones of Sakata Seed received the Outstanding Service Award.

Thank you all for your dedication the association, it is greatly appreciated!

One last farewell to the 2011 Alabama Watermelon Queen, Miss Ann-Marie Urrutia. A special thank you for all your hard work and dedication, over the past year.

You have represented the Alabama Association with great pride and elegance! Ann-Marie has been an outstanding representative for our association. In addition, thank you to all that helped make her year so special.

We had four outstanding young women compet-
ing for the 2012 Alabama Watermelon Queen position.

Miss Meghan Patterson of Thorsby, sponsored by Sunny Fresh, Miss Leah Knight of Berry sponsored by McMelon, Miss Amber Nolin of Enterprise, sponsored by Billy Smith’s Watermelons, and Miss Jaime Minor of Muscle Shoals, sponsored by Gulf Seed. Congratulations to Miss Amber Nolin on your new role as the 2012

Alabama Watermelon Queen. Miss Amber is the 20

year old daughter of Greg and Renea Nolin. She lives in Enterprise and attends Enterprise Sate Community College.

Amber and I are both very excited to get this year started. We will be attending the Florida Watermelon Convention on March 23rd-25th in Tampa, FL. Following that Amber will attend the Queen Training hosted by the National Watermelon Promotion Board, visit elementary schools, attend watermelon festivals, and complete a farm tour. Amber is eager to start her year learning about and promoting watermelons.

Warmest Regards, Katie Eubanks Promotions Coordinator

Katie.eubanks2@gmail.com
Newly crowned Queen Amber with her sponsor, Mr. Billy and
Mrs. Corliss Smith.

Queen Amber with Mr. Kelley and Mrs. Jean Marinaro
An amazing group of “has beens!”
Queen Kimberly, Queen Whitney, Queen Amber, Queen Ann-
Marie, and Queen Katelyn

2nd runner up, Leah Knight, Queen Amber, and 1st runner up
Meghan Patterson
Queen Ann-Marie receiving her beautiful watermelon jewelry
from the AWA board.

Visiting Queens, contestants, board members and special guest after the auction at the AWA convention.

All the beautiful contestants ready for evening gown
competition.

Queen Ann-Marie and Queen Katelyn, Congratulations on
Nationals Katelyn!

With Affirmed, Bold Ruler and Citation,
Growers across the country are enjoying the
benefits of wide adaptability, high yield,
excellent uniformity and sweet flavor.