This year’s festival is kicking off June 20, 2022 with a full week of fun on the itinerary. The Watermelon Festival is truly an invaluable contribution to our community. I want to give you my top five reasons you need to do all the festival things!
1. Festivals are a great way to create community. New friendships are made. Old friendships are rekindled. We laugh, celebrate, dance, and eat together. The shared memories last for a lifetime! These connections are the “glue” that hold communities and without them, a community stagnates causing the quality of life to decline.
2. Festivals give our children roots. They learn about the traditions that have been passed down through time. Whatever the festival’s theme, we learn from it. Education, greater awareness, and new knowledge are gained from hands-on, experiential learning offered in the fun context of a festival. Our children also connect with their neighbors. They have an opportunity to meet community leaders and engage with them. It instills in them a sense of pride in where they come from. It reminds all generations what makes our community special.
3. Festivals encourage creativity and the arts. It’s a time for paintings to be displayed, crafts to be admired, and talents to be showcased. Arts bring people together across boundaries. It increases understanding between groups and underrepresented views. It preserves history. It gives hope for the future. Investment in the arts is a proactive, strategic investment in community. Putting art at the heart of a community enhances our lives by stirring hard-to-articulate feelings and inspiring us to look beyond what we believe to be possible and imagine a more vibrant, exciting future. It also reminds us that we’re all creative beings — and that whether we’re making art or music, telling stories, or sharing in the experience, we’re all connected.
4. Festivals teach the importance of community service. The ability of people to work willingly together for the betterment of their community and themselves is a valuable resource that we can’t afford to lose. It enriches the lives of those serving and being served. There are various volunteer opportunities to choose from depending on your time and preferences.
5. Festivals give joy! There are holidays that everyone looks forward to celebrating across the world. But there are also unique festivals, which are held in only one place, and which cannot be confused with anything else. The Watermelon Festival is unique to our county. It’s a celebration that we get to look forward to and invite others from all over to enjoy with us. We want everybody to come and share in the festival fun. For one week out of the year, the Watermelon Festival give us a reason to go out and just have FUN. Life is too short to not include fun.
So, mark your calendar and plan to include the Watermelon Festival. It’s a BIG deal!
