With the Rush Springs Watermelon Festival right around the corner, Chickasha Rotary heard from Audrey Heath, the 2024 Watermelon Queen.
The Rotary Club of Chickasha met Thursday, July 25, 2024. Rocky Roberson led the club in singing "God Bless America".
At the beginning of the meeting, President Lewis Knisley auctioned off a watermelon provided by the speaker. Hank Ross won the auction with a $100 donation.
As Rotarian of the Day, Jim Cowan introduced the program: Audrey Heath, the 2024 Rush Springs Watermelon Queen. Her role is to be the primary spokesperson and promoter for the annual Rush Springs Watermelon Festival, held on August 10th this year.
Heath graduated from Rush Springs High School this spring and is a fourth-generation native of the Grady County town, with family roots in the watermelon industry. She explained that the queen is selected each year from RSHS students based on a combination of popular vote, donations collected, and a judging panel.
This year's festival will be the 79th iteration. The first festival was held in 1940, and it has been held every year since except for during World War II and 2020. Heath noted that the watermelon feed consumes 50,000 pounds of melon each year, and that it is free starting at 4pm. She noted that this year has been a particularly good season for the watermelon crop, due to the combination of high temperatures and plentiful rain.
The festival consists of more than just melons—it coincides with a rodeo, car show, and 5K and 10K races. There is live entertainment all day. The slate of watermelon-centric events includes a tiny tots contest, a seed-spitting contest, and a "melon-made" contest.
Lunch was provided by Interurban.