Comments on: Clara Hayes Recalls Her Past Memories of the Watermelon Festival

By: B Ballard

B Ballard — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:13:41 +0000

I don’t recall if it was aprt of the festival , a fund raiser for the festival or a separate event, but the town used to have “barefoot and apron day” every year. Any man with shoes on or woman not wearing an apron in the downtown area was “fined” by a young woman “policeman” on street patrol looking for violators. It was a fun event.

By: Sarah Ann (Gibson) Dailey

Sarah Ann (Gibson) Dailey — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:50:25 +0000

Is anyone in the C.M Tucker family still involved in the Watermelon Festival? I grew up visiting my cousins, Alawee and Tuck Tucker and their boys Carl and Glenn. I have fond memories of hearing about the Festival so many years ago.
Sarah Ann (Gibson) Dailey

By: Milton Griffin

Milton Griffin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:09:40 +0000

I remember Mr. Harry Tucker and I think he was responsible for Miss America being at many of the festivals.

By: Tom (Buddy)

Tom (Buddy) — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:01:08 +0000

Yep,
That is a great storey of how time waits on no one. I can sympathize with the feelings of Mrs. Hayes of how things were way back when and now…
As a child I can remember all the fun events that took place each year in our small town. Then after finishing school and moving away because of employment. Returning some thirty years later was heart breaking. To see that all the things, business and friends had simply seemed to have vanished. But the memories that still lie with the heart never changed. The people that new me as Buddy that had watched me walk to the river with my fishing pole. I could still see in the minds eye and still felt in the heart.
Gone was the corner store where I purchased my baits for 5 cents.
All that was old has been replaced by the new. The faces that I once knew as well as the building and my spots that all my friends hung out to find out what was new at the farm, vanished as well.
But in new papers and pictures those days as all others can live on.
It’s the now generation that can only read and look at pictures and only imagine how those days were. But its those that are still living from those days gone by that truly feel from the heart how it really felt.. Its amazing how some days you can catch a sweet smell of flowers on the breeze and instantly relive the precious moments of life…
God Bless all those that made those days possible and Bless as a country we are.
Be well
TC

By: Carina Machin

Carina Machin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:55:45 +0000

I can only imagine how the Watermelon Festival was 30yrs ago. You can feel the pride and sincerity in Clara’s story as she recalls how only Pageland vendors and watermelon growers were allowed.

By: Travis Wilson

Travis Wilson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:49:00 +0000

What a great story!!