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  • Home
  • Sponsors
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  • Contest Winners
  • Photo Gallery
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2023 June 17-24 Watermelon Festival

2023 June 17-24 Watermelon Festival 2023 June 17-24 Watermelon Festival 2023 June 17-24 Watermelon Festival

Theme

The Past, Present & Future

of Education in Hampton County


Thanks to our sponsors who help make this festival possible!







2023 festival grand marshals

WHHS Class of 1983 Reunion

The Hampton County Watermelon Festival welcomes home the WHHS Class of 1983 Reunion on June 23-24, 2023.  Please contact Rhonda Moore Johnson, Deborah Williams Tuten, and Cindy Herndon Davis through our Facebook page for details.

2023 Festival Miss Master Pageant

Fishing Tournament

Festival Parade

The  Past, Present  & Future of Education in Hampton County


Below is a link to the 2022 parade

2022 Business & Home Decoration Winners

Business 1st Place

Business 1st Place

Business 1st Place

Varnville Chiropractic Clinic

Business 2nd Place

Business 1st Place

Business 1st Place

Palmetto State Bank


Business 3rd Place

Business 1st Place

Business 3rd Place

Lowcountry Seafood

Home 1st Place

Home 1st Place

Business 3rd Place


Debbie Horres

Home 2nd Place

Home 1st Place

Home 2nd Place


Elaine Rooker

2022 Battle of the Towns

    Festival History

    History Highlights

      

    Going back to the earliest celebrations, among the best attended attractions is always Friday night’s street dance in Hampton. But the crowning event of every Watermelon Festival, of course, is the Miss Coastal Empire pageant. Many a Palmetto State beauty has added to the scenery, including the late U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond’s wife, who came as Miss South Carolina (Nancy Moore of Aiken) in 1966, to the 24th Watermelon Festival.

    In 1993...

    the festival expanded to eight days, “Sunday to Sunday.” Opening ceremonies were coupled with a new event called “Festival Family Fun Day,” sponsored by the Hampton County Chamber of Commerce and held at Lake Warren State Park. The expansion made the Watermelon Festival the third longest festival in the state.
     

    A new beauty is picked to be queen of the Coastal Empire every summer, while the same old King Watermelon reigns in glory! 

    Excerpts from "The World’s Original Watermelon Festival" By Martha Bee Anderson

      

    Hampton County is the home of the world’s original Watermelon Festival. Since 1939, the Hampton County Watermelon Festival has grown to become South Carolina’s oldest continuing festival. From the beginning, it has been a celebration of, for, and by the people of this friendly Lowcountry County, timed to the melon harvest every summer. The tradition was interrupted only twice, first during World War II (1943—45) and again during the Korean War (1951).

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