This year’s Hope Watermelon Festival has some new entertainment features and some old favorites.
Old favorites which will be back include the annual Dog Show at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Dr. Damien Stroderd will sponsor the show which will be held on the BancorpSouth Stage.
On the McDonald’s Stage in the coliseum, entertainment begins Thursday night at 6 p.m. when the Watermelon Idol preliminary begins. The Idol competition is sponsored by UACCH and has been at the festival for several years. At 7 p.m. in front of the coliseum, the Washington Vintage Dancers will be performing.
On Friday, August 7, the McDonald’s Stage will see the Southwest Arkansas Arts Council from 12-5 p.m. At 6 p.m. the Little Miss and Little Mr. Watermelon Pageant will be back, and at 7:30 p.m. the Washington Dancers wil be in front of the coliseum again.
On Friday, August 7, the BancorpSouth Stage will see Jim Barentine and Friends, a longtime act at the festival, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. At 4-4:30 p.m., Cameron Stovall will take the stage and from 6-6:45 p.m. Eddie Glidewell, a Christian singer who is originally from Hope, will perform.
At 7 p.m. on the BancorpSouth Stage, Karen Peck and New River will entertain. This is the free Gospel Show which will be held on Friday, instead of Sunday. Bring lawn chairs for seating.
On Saturday on the BancorpSouth Stage, The Brazzel Gospel Hour, which has been in existence since 1978, will begin at 9 a.m. Brazzel/Oakcrest Funeral Home sponsors the event, and this year Garrett Memorial Baptist Quartet will be featured.
At 10 a.m. on the BancorpSouth Stage, Adoration, a gospel group from Hot Springs, will take the stage, followed by the Hope Jazz Cats at 11 a.m. Adoration and the Hope Jazz Cats are both first-time acts at the Watermelon Festival.
Carl Jackson will take the stage at noon, followed by Val Robison, the singing Wal-Mart manager, at 12:30 p.m. Jackson and Robison are both return engagements at the festival. At 1:30 p.m., Southwest Ark. Gymnastics and Cheerleading Academy will perform, as they have in past years, in front of the stage. JOY, a local Christian group will take the stage at 2 p.m. and at 3 p.m. Watermelon Idol Finals, sponsored by UACCH, will be taking the stage.
Southwest Ark. Gymnastics and Cheerleading Academy will perform at 4 p.m. and at 4:30 p.m., Gene Cagle and The 4 A’s Plus 1 will sing for the crowds. At 5:30 p.m., Rudy Preston will take the stage wth many years of performing at the Watermelon Festival under his belt.
On the First National Bank Stage on Saturday, at noon The Politically Correct Watermelon Eating Contest and the Hope Watermelon Festival Watermelon Eating Contest will be held. At 1 p.m., the annual Seed Spitting Contest, sponsored by UACCH, will be held. At 2 p.m., an arm wrestling competion will be held.
