Not only is Hope, Arkansas, the birthplace of that “quirky” ex-president Bill Clinton, it also has lots of other seeds to spit out of its mouth, including the world’s largest watermelon festival and a replica of the world’s largest watermelon.

The town used to even have a watermelon water tower, but it’s now painted white, some say to give the town a more “respectable” look in honor of Clinton. Darn!!! That would have been a great photo opportunity!

In any event, watermelons have long been a calling card for the City of Hope, with its watermelon festival dating back to the 1920s and continuing to draw as many as 50,000 people during its four-day August event, to spit, dribble, crunch, and slice their way through a whole bunch of the fabulous fruit.

The festival features not only lots of watermelon for your eating pleasure, but arts and crafts booths, more food — including burgers, pork rinds, fried catfish, and chicken-on-a-stick– and a wide variety of musical talent. But the best part of the festival is the Watermelon Olympics, where local teams are pitted against each other in events such as a seed-spitting contest, a watermelon-eating contest, a watermelon auction, and a contest to see who can grow the biggest melon, with some easily tipping the scales at more than 200 pounds.

Hope, Arkansas, is the county seat of Hempstead County, with a population of about 9,500. It is located in the southwest corner of the state, about 25 miles northeast of Texarkana.

 

© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2026.

Also See:

Arkansas – The Natural State

Destinations Across America

Offbeat Roadside Attractions, Trivia, & More

Quirky Arkansas – Curiosities & Roadside Attractions

See Sources.