Try watermelon in Farmerville

• By CYNTHIA V. CAMPBELL
• Travel editor
• Published: Jul 6, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 am

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It’s watermelon time in Louisiana. A cold, sweet, juicy melon is perfect on a hot sultry day, and Louisianians know exactly what to do. Throw a party!

The 45th annual Louisiana Watermelon Festival in Farmerville takes place Thursday-Saturday, July 24-26. The festival, which draws about 10,000 people, has been named one of the Top Twenty Events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.

A truly old-fashioned family oriented festival, it offers something for everyone. A watermelon Festival Treasure Hunt takes place through all three days, and a tennis tournament takes place two to three days in Lake D’Arbonne State Park.

The festival opens officially at 7 p.m. Friday with ceremonies, vendors, food, games and amusements in Courthouse Square, 100 East Bayou St. Highlights will be the Best Dressed Watermelon contest, tricycle and bicycle races for kids and arm wrestling competition. Watermelon competitions will include melon rolling, eating and seed spitting. A street dance, with music by the Mike McKenzie Band, starts at 8:15 p.m.

Saturday activities include the Watermelon Growers breakfast at Jaycee Hall, a golf tournament at Lake D’Arbonne Country Club and a 5K run , all starting at 7 a.m. Activities with an agricultural focus will include the watermelon quality contest, watermelon size contest and watermelon auction. A textile exhibit, The Textile Garden: From the Seeds of  Quilting to the Harvest of Fashion will be shown in the Union Parish Library. The bookmobile at Courthouse Square will present storytime featuring the book, The Enormous Watermelon, and a Hispanic story, The Icy Watermelon. The Watermelon Festival Parade on Main Street starts at 9 a.m.

For more information, contact the Farmerville Jaycees (318) 368-0044 or http://www.lawatermelonfestival.com.

Fun in Des Allemands
If big things come in small packages, the Des Allemands  Catfish Festival may take the prize. The small town on Bayou des Allemands, which is officially designated the Catfish Festival of the Universe, will host its annual Catfish Festival Friday-Sunday, July 11-13. The event takes place on the grounds of St. Gertrude Catholic Church, 1729 La. 631.

Church secretary Candy Ford said, “It’s a lot of fun. People come and all they do is eat seafood gumbo and dance.”

Start with a stop at the large fish tank holding a giant catfish. Every year, locals head out into the bayou and get the largest catch they can find to show off why the town honors the fish. There will be rides and craft booths. Saturday activities include a 5K run and 1 mile run and a catfish eating contest at 2. p.m. Activities continue Sunday, ending with raffles at 9 p.m.

Festival food is totally prepared by local volunteers. Among the offerings will be catfish sauce piquant, catfish boulettes, catfish and shrimp po-boys as well as fried crab claws, grillades, jambalaya, hamburgers and a sweets booth. On Saturday and Sunday, the air-conditioned community hall will be open for diners.

Musical performers will be Louisiana Express with Johnny Allen and Tommy McLain, 7-11 p.m. Friday; DJ Dru Westerman, 10 a.m.; Lane Foret, 1 p.m.; Hip Boot Joe, 5 p.m.; and Don Rich, 8 p.m., Saturday; and Rodney Thibodaux and Tout Les Soir, 11 a.m.; Seabrook, 2 p.m.; and Ruff-n-Ready Band, 5 p.m., Sunday.

To reach Des Allmands, follow I-10 east to I-310 west connecting with U.S. 90; drive past the town of Paradis and take the Des Allemands exit.

Lincoln and Louisiana
The Old Governor’s Mansion, 502 North Blvd. in Baton Rouge, will be the setting Tuesday, July 8, for a lecture on Abraham Lincoln. David Madden, LSU Robert Penn Warren professor of creative writing, will talk on “Lincoln’s Unique Louisiana Connection” as part of the bicentennial anniversary being celebrated throughout the U.S. Lincoln was born Feb. 12, 1809.