Sweet Summer is Here! We are thrilled to share that we have an amazing new group of queens representing us, we've been busy completing so many fantastic events, and our association just held our most successful auction ever! Most importantly, we proudly awarded scholarships to our incredible AgriFutures recipients this year. Queen Program Update We crowned some new Queens in April and since then they have hit the ground running! They have already completed 23 promotions! We have more promotions scheduled, including Newberry Watermelon Festival, 4 grocery store promotions for memorial day weekend and more! For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on Facebook or Instagram! BEST AUCTION EVER!Thank you everyone who attended our Annual Auction. It was a wonderful time and we raised a record-breaking amount for the AgirFutures Scholarship Program - $53,297! All of those funds will go towards ten $5,000 scholarships next year. Congratulations to Cody Singletary with Bayshore Farms for winning the largest watermelon contest!   Congratulations to our King Buyer - Melon 1. We are so grateful for all your support! You can view all images from the auction in the link below: Scholarship Recipients Honored We hosted our scholarship recipients at our Annual Auction and were proud to present them with their checks and trophies! We also attended their Senior Scholarship Awards so this accomplishment could be recognized in their communities! Our recipients are: William Cornell - Wauchula, FL. Reese Richards - Avon Park, FL Trenton Felton - Clewiston, FL
Our NEW Queens
Announcing Our New Intern The DWA is proud to announce that we have a new intern, Miss Jaylin Hickox. Jaylin is the daughter of Jenny and Jason Hickox. She will be a senior at Charlotte High School this coming year. She is assisting us in many ways and is such a treasure to our association already! She has been a big help on promotions and behind the scenes. Jaylin is pictured with our Princess Bailey. THANK YOU 2025 SPONSORS
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2025 Watermelon Pageants
2025 Pageant Schedule April 5, 2025 - DeSoto Middle School 11:00 am | Sweet Gem 2:00 pm | Crimson Sweet 6:00 pm | Jubilee April 6, 2025 - DeSoto Middle School 2:30 pm | Princess 7:00 pm | Queen April 12, 2025 - DeSoto County Watermelon Festival 10:30 am | 0-12 months Sugar Babe 11:00 am | 1-2 years Sugar Babe 12:30 pm | 3-4 years Sugar Babe 1:30 pm | 5-6 years Sugar Babe Annual Auction - Benefiting the AgriFutures Scholarship Proram  We are pleased to announce the inaugural class of the AgriFutures Scholarship program. These three outstanding future agriculturalists were selected from a highly competitive pool of 13 applicants. We are honored to support their academic and professional growth and look forward to their contributions to the industry.
 The new year is here and we are excited for everything we have planned for 2025! From the pageants, to a new watermelon festival, and our annual auction, this watermelon season promises to be a busy time for our association. Our sponsorship opportunities are now open! If you are interested in sponsoring our association for 2025 please click the link below. Queen Program Update Our Queens participated in 3 parades this past Christmas season. Over the next couple months, they will be visiting royalty at various pageants in the heartland area. This is a great way for us to promote our upcoming pageant and get the girls out in the community. For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on Facebook or Instagram! If you would like our queens to attend any particular events or appearances please email Director Kel so she can coordinate the plans! Scholarship Recipients Chosen The recipients have been selected and are all very excited, not only for the scholarship but also for the opportunities they will receive from us. We will be announcing the winners after we have received all final documents from them.   We have some exciting updates about all the wonderful things the DeSoto Watermelon Association has going on. This year has been absolutely amazing in terms of association work and we aren't even finished yet! We have been busy promoting our new scholarship program and our queens have continued to do events throughout the community. They have completed 52 events and have 7 currently scheduled! Queen Program Update Queen Karina Placed 2nd Runner-up at the Florida Watermelon Queen Pageant in October. She did an absolutely incredible job and we are all very proud of her hard work and dedication. She is a wonderful ambassador for our association and we know she will continue to be so for the remainder of her reign. For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on Facebook or Instagram! If you would like our queens to attend any particular events or appearances please email Director Kel so she can coordinate the plans! 2024 Scholarship Applications Released Thanks to the funds raised at our annual auction back in May we can award THREE $5,000 scholarships to seniors interested in pursuing a career in agriculture. To get the word out about this amazing opportunity we have advertising running on social media, contacted Ag groups in the area, emailed schools, shared posters with schools and more. Please take the time to share our posts about this scholarship on Facebook or Instagram. We have received some applications and will continue our outreach efforts for them until the deadline on December 1, 2024. For more details about the scholarship please visit our scholarship page.  It's been an awesome and BUSY summer! Since April we have had our pageants, our watermelon auction, and our queens have been representing our wonderful industry on various events and appearances throughout the state! We just want to give a big thank you to everyone who has supported all of our efforts this year. Everything we do here would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, members, and community. We have some pretty big things coming this year and it is all thanks to the support of each and every one of you! I am excited to see how our association leaves our mark on this community and in the lives of the young people in it. We have an absolutely incredible group of queens this year. They are all so wonderfully pleasant and represent this association with grace and dignity. Queen Program Update Our Queens have been BUSY! Since April they have completed 35 events and appearances! They have shared watermelon slices at 5k runs, promoted watermelons in local grocery stores, visited schools, visited farms, and attended 3 watermelon festivals! This year we have had a large emphasis on school promotions. We are so proud of the impact we were able to make on students this school year!  For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on Facebook or Instagram! If you would like our queens to attend any particular events or appearances please email Director Kel so she can coordinate the plans! 2024 Watermelon Auction Thank you to everyone who attended our watermelon auction this year! We raised a record amount from the auction! These funds are going to be used for our new scholarship program we are rolling out this year. We are going to be able to award THREE scholarships to seniors in the heartland area who are interested in going into agriculture. Thank you so much to all of our buyers! This year's King Buyer was GIBSON PRODUCE. 
Thank you to Melon 1 & Gibson Produce for purchasing gifts for our Queens. They are so grateful for your generosity. Click the button for pictures from the auction! Senior Intern Recognized for Exceptional Service This year we had a senior intern, Macy Rowe. Macy graduated Magna cum laude from Classical Christian Academy . She was a member of the yearbook club and she was secretary & treasurer for her school's chapter of the National Honor Society. Macy plans to attend college this coming fall to pursue a degree in graphic design. This year she completed 156 hours of service for our association. She has been an extremely big help with putting on the pageants, promotions, social media, graphic design work and with this auction. Now that her time as our senior intern is over, Macy will be transitioning to our Social Media Manager, as she is still interested in volunteering for our association. Thank you Association Sponsors We have a lot of amazing things going on with the DeSoto Watermelon Association. We have a new name and logo in addition to 5 wonderful new titleholders. They are eager and ready to promote our industry this season. Our annual watermelon auction is coming up and we are very excited to see our members in their best and grooviest outfits! Please remember to RSVP!  Join us for the 2024 Auction |
 Jubilee - Lynlee Baker Sebring, FL |  Princess - Madison McClelland Sebring, FL |
 Adalynn Southwell Wauchula, FL |  Sweet Gem - Lyla Favara Fort Ogden, FL |
Queen Program Taking Off
Our Queens are off to a busy start! We have 30 events on the books and that list is growing everyday! We have many school promotions we will be doing this next month in addition to 5ks, festivals and farm tours.
If you would like the Queens to visit your farm please email Kel here.
For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on facebook or instagram!
If you would like our queens to attend any particular events or appearances please email Director Kel so she can coordinate the plans!
If you would like the Queens to visit your farm please email Kel here.
For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on facebook or instagram!
If you would like our queens to attend any particular events or appearances please email Director Kel so she can coordinate the plans!
THANK YOU SPONSORS
Get your GROOVE on at the DeSoto County Watermelon Pageants! Open to DeSoto, Highlands, Hardee, Manatee, Polk, Charlotte and Sarasota counties residents and college students! Applications are due March 1, 2023. Click the link for you application! https://www.desotowatermelon.com/2024pageant.html
Quarterly Update - Summer 2023
It's been an awesome and BUSY summer! Since April we have had our pageants, brought back our watermelon auction, and our queens have been representing our wonderful industry on various events and appearances throughout the state.
A Note from Director Kel
I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who has supported all of our efforts this year. Everything we do here would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, members, and community.
We have an absolutely incredible group of queens this year. They are all so wonderfully pleasant and represent this association with grace and dignity. I know I am partial but I think we have the best group of queens in the whole Heartland area!
We have an absolutely incredible group of queens this year. They are all so wonderfully pleasant and represent this association with grace and dignity. I know I am partial but I think we have the best group of queens in the whole Heartland area!
Queen Program Update
Our Queens have been BUSY! Since April they have completed 34events and appearances! They have shared watermelon slices at 5k runs, promoted watermelons in local grocery stores, read to children, visited numerous farms, and attended 4 watermelon festivals!
For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on Facebook, instagram or TikTok!
If you would like our queens to attend any particular events or appearances please email Director Kel at [email protected] so she can coordinate the plans!
For an in-depth look at all of the events and appearances our queens participate in please follow us on Facebook, instagram or TikTok!
If you would like our queens to attend any particular events or appearances please email Director Kel at [email protected] so she can coordinate the plans!
Queens Make the News!
DESOTO COUNTY, Fla. --
The DeSoto County Watermelon Festival returned to the DeSoto County Fairgrounds Saturday.
The annual event included food, craft vendors, games, and more.One popular tradition of the festival is the Watermelon Pageants.Pageants range from the Sugar Babe contest for contestants up to six years old, to the Queen pageant for ages 18-21.
The DeSoto County Watermelon Festival returned to the DeSoto County Fairgrounds Saturday.
The annual event included food, craft vendors, games, and more.One popular tradition of the festival is the Watermelon Pageants.Pageants range from the Sugar Babe contest for contestants up to six years old, to the Queen pageant for ages 18-21.
2023 Watermelon Auction
Thank you to everyone who attended our watermelon auction this year! It was an incredible time and really great to get back to doing something so fun and so loved by many.
The funds raised are going to be used for Queen Scholarships.
Thank you so much to all of our buyers! This year's King Buyer was MELON 1.
The funds raised are going to be used for Queen Scholarships.
Thank you so much to all of our buyers! This year's King Buyer was MELON 1.
Congratulations to Mr. Lee Killmon for winning the BIGGEST watermelon prize this year!
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Thank you to Melon 1 & Gibson Produce for purchasing gifts for Queen Ashlyn. She is so grateful for your generosity.
Let's Grow Our Membership!
This year membership to the DeSoto County Watermelon Association is free to anyone interested. If you or someone you know would be interested in becoming a member of our association please fill out the form linked below!
Thank you Association Sponsors
