By Mark Mauldin and Julie McConnell
Planting season is just around the corner and as you plan your summer garden, consider including watermelons to enter into the Big Melon Contest at the Panhandle Watermelon Festival!
The watermelon festival and the Big Melon Contest have been summertime staples in the Central Panhandle for decades. The Big Melon Contest is an opportunity to showcase your skills as a grower and a chance to win prize money. To make the contest fun for growers of all types of watermelons, a winner and first runner-up will be recognized for each variety of melon entered in contest*, with the heaviest melon in the class winning $50 and the first runner-up $25. In addition to the variety classes, there will be a $300 grand prize paid for the overall heaviest melon in the contest, and $200 for the first runner-up heaviest melon. This contest is open to all ages; however, we do have a separate youth division, Junior Jubilee, which is described below.
The Junior Jubilee Contest is open to kids aged 18 and under. To participate in the Junior Jubilee Contest, kids must register with UF/IFAS Extension Washington County Office between 2/18/25 and 3/7/25. Upon signing up, kids will receive seeds, a grower log sheet, and growing guide. Through the Spring the kids will grow their own melons and record their progress on the log sheet. They will bring their log sheet along with their 2 biggest melons to enter into the contest on designated intake days (6/18-19). All kids who bring a melon back for the contest will be recognized at the melon auction on Saturday, June 21st. Prizes will be given for the 10 biggest melons in the youth division, including a $200 grand prize!
Junior Jubilee Contestants Aubrey and Blake showing off some of the melons they grew for the 2024 Junior Jubilee Contest. Photo Credit: Mark Mauldin
There will be a “How to Grow Watermelons” class for kids & parents at the Washington County Ag Center in Chipley, at 5:30 PM, on February 18th to help kickoff the Junior Jubilee program. Attendance is not required to participate in the contest.
There is no cost to enter a melon into the contest. However, melons entered in the contest are donated to the festival and will be sold via auction. Proceeds of the auction help off-set the costs of next year’s festival. All contest melons will be on display during the festival and their variety, weight, and grower will be announced during the auction.
Melons being entered in the contest must be delivered to the Washington County Ag Center during the designated intake period. Melons will be received and weighed-in at the Ag Center Wednesday 6/18 between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM and Thursday 6/19 between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM central time. If you plan to enter a melon, be sure to check the average days from seed to harvest and plan accordingly. For example, Jubilee melons take 90-100 days so must be planted by March 7th for ripe melons to be available by June 18th.
The 2025 Panhandle Watermelon Festival is a free event and is scheduled for Friday June 20th and Saturday June 21st, in Chipley, FL. Friday night includes concerts and kids’ activities at Jim Trawick Park (1544 N Railroad Ave, Chipley, FL 32428). Saturday’s events include a parade downtown in the morning then vendor booths, kids’ activities, and the watermelon auction (and contest winners announced) at the Washington County Ag Center (1424 Jackson Ave. Chipley, FL 32428) after the parade.
Photo: M. Mauldin, UF/IFAS
The watermelon auction will begin at 12:00 noon central time on Saturday followed by the last concert of the festival.
If you have any questions regarding the contest, contact Mark Mauldin at the UF/IFAS Extension, Washington County Office (850-638-6180 or mdm83@ufl.edu).
For details about the Panhandle Watermelon Festival, please visit the event organizer’s website and/or Facebook pages.
Northwest District Regional Specialized Agent
B.S. Horticulture, Auburn University
M.S. Entomology & Nematology, University of Florida
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