This Year's Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival Lacked Something

This last Saturday of July the 2017 version  of the Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival took place in downtown Wichita Falls at the Farmers Market.

I greatly enjoyed last year's Watermelon Festival, particularly the amusing Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest.

This year I left about the time the first round of watermelon seeds were being readied for spitting.

Last year upon arrival I soon found myself being handed Bell Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. This year I found no ice cream being handed out. I did find a lot of watermelon. Sweet, tasty, perfect watermelon, in copious amounts.

I had myself a lot of watermelon today. As did a lot of other festival goers.

The crowd seemed larger than last year. A lot larger.

A large supply of watermelon and watermelon suppliers were seen in various Watermelon Festival locations in the Farmers Market zone.

And inside the Farmers Market building, as one joined the milling throng, one came upon various tasty samples of watermelon iterations, such as the cubed version you see below, with a tasty jalapeno salsa kick installed.

But.

Last year the Watermelon Festival seemed much more festive,  much more lively, much noisier.

Last year a band provided background sound, which added to the festive atmosphere.

This year the Watermelon Festival seemed quiet.

Extremely quiet.

Last year an excellent sound system was used to inform the festival goers about what they could be doing, or expecting. Such as registering for the Seed Spitting Contest. This year there was no sound system.

When the time came for the Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest many of the festival goers had no idea this was happening. People leaving the festival was quite noticeable,  even as the Seed Spitting Contest officiators were trying to get the seeds into spitting mode.

Above you see the first group of Watermelon Seed Spitters, waiting. The young group goes first. Last year this seemed well organized. And last year the emcee was amusingly talented. This year there was no emcee, no sound system, nothing that let the few remaining festival goers know what was happening.

I left soon after the above picture was taken, with the kids seeming to grow impatient, with no one seeming to know what to do.

What happened to the well run machine which ran last year's well run Wichita  Falls Watermelon Festival?

Sad.

But, the watermelon was good....