Rush Springs to celebrate itself as Watermelon Capital of the World

RUSH SPRINGS — Lillyan Ball is a softball pitcher, but this summer, the 17-year-old is having a ball making a pitch for her hometown Rush Springs and its self-promoted title as Watermelon Capital of the World.

It’s that time of the year again, the second Saturday in August, when the whole town of Rush Springs comes together, as well as tens of thousands of visitors flock in from all over Oklahoma and parts of Texas, to celebrate the 78th annual Watermelon Festival. Ball will represent Rush Springs as the 2023 Watermelon Queen during the festivities from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday in Jeff Davis Park, 301 Chestnut Street (see box for detailed schedule and parking information).

After a one-year break in 2020 due to COVID, the Watermelon Festival is firmly back on track, and Ball is looking forward to the expected 25-30,000 visitors who will transform the sleepy town of Rush Springs into a bustling celebration of its most famous asset: its watermelons — planted with love, harvested with care and ripened to perfection.

“Rush Springs has the most juiciest and sweetest watermelons in the world,” the Watermelon Queen said during a visit at The Lawton Constitution on Monday. Ball has busy weeks behind her (and ahead), touring Oklahoma in the past months to promote the festivities, for example at the Noodling Fest in Pauls Valley in June. This week, she is visiting television, radio and other media outlets in Oklahoma City, Lawton and Wichita Falls, Texas, to share Rush Springs’ watermelon message.

“We get to show the heart and soul of Rush Springs,” she said. “The community rallies together.”

Rallying together was also the motto when Ball ran for Watermelon Queen along with two of her friends. On May 20, it was she who was selected to represent Rush Springs for the coming year.

“I didn’t register it at first,” Ball said about the moment she realized she had been chosen. “It took a while, I was shocked.”

At 12:30 p.m. Saturday, her official crowning as Watermelon Queen will take place, and Ball will then represent Rush Springs until a new Watermelon Queen will be chosen next May. Her communication skills acquired through her involvement as president for her school’s FFA chapter will help her with that.

For this year’s festival, the organizers have a little surprise up their sleeves: the first-ever watermelon-themed food contest. Anyone can participate in one of four categories such as dessert or decorating and in one of three age divisions (see box for more information).

Ball’s favorite event is the Tiny Tot Contest, which determines the next Little Mr. and Miss Rush Springs. It will take place at 9:30 a.m.

“You never know what they will say on stage,” Ball said. This would make the entire thing very unpredictable, but therefore also highly entertaining. But there’s another reason why Ball is looking forward to it. In 2011, she herself won the Tiny Tot Contest and became Little Ms. Rush Springs.

More entertainment is provided by a variety of local artists, such as Aaron Chesnut or Malissa Johnson. Free watermelon will be available at 4 p.m. And then there is the one contest probably everybody is looking forward to: the seed spitting contest at 1:30 p.m. Of course, Ball will participate, and she is well-prepared. In the World Championship Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest in Pauls Valley in July, she scored first place in her age division.