East Davis Street in Luling is lined with small brick shops, including a cafe called “Mom’s Front Porch”. However, what sets this street apart is a large tin-roofed pavilion adorned with an intricate green sculpture. This pavilion serves as the home of the town’s annual “Watermelon Thump” festival. The festival, organized by a local nonprofit, takes place on the last full weekend of June and attracts around 30,000 visitors to the town of Luling, which has a population of less than 6,000.
During the festival, the street transforms into a watermelon wonderland, with everything from light poles to storefront windows decked out in watermelon decor. Nicole Smith, a photographer and writer for the local Luling Newsboy & Signal, describes the event as the highlight of the town’s social calendar. The festival features carnival rides, contests, live music, and the highly anticipated watermelon auction where growers can earn thousands of dollars for a single fruit.
One of the main attractions of the festival is the watermelon growing competition, where growers showcase their prized melons and compete for the title of Grand Champion. The melons are weighed in front of a crowd, with the heaviest melon fetching top dollar at the auction. This year, the winning melon weighed an impressive 125.1 pounds and was grown by Paul Mikesh, a local farmer with years of experience in cultivating watermelons.
Mikesh reveals the secret to growing giant watermelons: pruning all but one fruit off each vine to allow the plant to focus its resources on producing a single large melon. Despite the challenges of unpredictable weather and pests like wild hogs and deer, Mikesh’s dedication and expertise have earned him two Grand Championship titles at the Watermelon Thump.
Aside from the growing competition, the festival also crowns a Watermelon Thump Queen, who represents the town of Luling at various events throughout the year. The coronation ceremony is a highlight of the festival, with spectators eagerly awaiting the announcement of the new queen. The title comes with a crown, a sash, and a busy schedule of appearances at festivals across Texas.
The Watermelon Thump is not just about competition and pageantry; it is a celebration of community and hard work. Residents come together to enjoy the fruits of their labor, whether it be through growing prize-winning melons or participating in fun contests like seed spitting and watermelon eating. The festival is a time for residents to take pride in their town and its rich agricultural heritage, making it a truly sweet experience for all who attend.