Pageland offers a spitting good time

            What makes a Southern town of 3,000 grow to 25,000 people without it being football season?

            In Pageland, South Carolina, it’s the lure of the sweet sweet watermelon.

            Known as the Watermelon Capital of the World — yes we said world — Pageland offers a Watermelon Festival every July to celebrate the magic fruit. This year’s fun will be Friday and Saturday, July 18-19, and include contests for seed spitting, watermelon eating (where you have 90 seconds to eat a watermelon with your hands behind your back) and the best watermelon outfit. In addition, there’s arts and crafts, live music, amusement rides, beauty pageant, Melon Mile 5K, children’s activities, parade, car show and rodeo, among much more.

            Best of all it’s free!

            This fun not-for-profit festival has been happening in Pageland since 1951! That’s a lot of seeds to spit.

            Pageland is located about an hour from downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, and 90 minutes from Columbia, South Carolina.

            Alcohol laws are lifted during the festival to allow patrons to bring their beverage of choice to the nightly concerts, but no beverages are served.
            For information on the Pageland Watermelon Festival, visit http://pagelandwatermelonfestival.com/.