Cookouts, barbeques, family vacations, pool days and celebrating America’s birthday means the heart of summer is here. For Arkansans, when July comes, it also means it’s time for one of Arkansas’s best festivals, which also happens to be home to “The World’s Sweetest Watermelon.”

The Cave City Watermelon Festival is held every July over three days. This year, it will kick off Thursday, July 25and run through Saturday, July 27 at the Cave City City Park. The fun filled event is packed full of live music, great food, old friends, and of course, WATERMELON!

Cave City has been growing watermelon and putting on this annual event for almost 40 years. The very first festival was in August 1980 and was only a one-day event that brought in 2,400 people. The festival grew so much the city added on two more full days and has become the largest festival of the region bringing in people from across the states.

Live Music

The tune of the festival will be buzzing with eleven musical acts spread over the three days including some top-notch headliners. Shenandoah will take the stage Friday night at 8 p.m. The country icons hold Grammy, CMA, and ACM awards as well as thirteen #1 records.

Another country music treasure who holds four (4) platinum records, five (5) gold records, fourteen Number 1 hits and twenty-three top 10 singles will close out the festival Saturday night at 8:30 – Mark Chesnutt.

Other musical guests include:

Charles Landers and Gospel Hour Singers (Thursday, 6:00 p.m.)
Flatland Gospel Band (Thursday, 7:00 p.m.)
Down East Boys (Thursday, 8:00 p.m.)
Erin Walters and Shannon Rounds (Friday, 6:00 p.m.)
Rick Crawford and Triple Nickel (Friday, 7:00 p.m.)
Luke Stroud and the 50s Beat (Saturday, 12:00 p.m.)
Drasco (Saturday, 1:30 p.m.)
Lauren Richmond (Saturday, 5:45 p.m.)

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Activities and Attractions

You can’t hold the honor of having “The World’s Sweetest Watermelon” without the watermelon! Over these three days you are guaranteed to get your watermelon fix.

The Watermelon Speed Eating Contest will be held Friday evening.

Saturday you can’t miss the watermelon parade or the watermelon growers’ games. The local growers will also put on a watermelon feast for FREE.

There will also be a Prize Melon Auction that will be benefiting Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Although the watermelons are the main focal point of the festival, the city also puts on some awesome activities for the whole family. Everything from a kid’s fishing derby, a 5K run, a car show and a pancake breakfast.

You can find more information and the full schedule of events at www.cavecitywatermelonfestival.com

READ MORE: Bucket List: Summer Travel

Images courtesy of Cave City Watermelon Festival