20 Years—August 10, 2006 – Tami Tacke, Carla Davis, and Kimberly Buford, staff members of the Mechanics Bank, were passing out free chilled melon slices to motorists passing on Main Street. Yalobusha General Hospital received permission to place a nurse practitioner in the county-owned medical clinic in Coffeeville. The Yalobusha County Dive Team will soon…

There was a time when the supply of locally grown watermelons in the county almost dried up. Joe Pullen doesn’t remember exactly when it was, maybe 10 or 15 years ago. “Nobody had any local melons for that carnival,” Pullen told me. “I went and bought a load and I said, ‘Ain’t no sense in…

What a weekend! In any other rain-out situation, I would opine that even the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. But this saying doesn’t mention anything about watermelons. So maybe that’s why, despite the stormy weather, the 56th annual Water Valley Watermelon Carnival not only endured but prevailed! My outlook wasn’t so positive on Friday,…

For all the school and college students, children and teachers getting ready to start school, or who already started this week, I pray you have a safe and successful year. It’s hard to believe Christmas will be here in just five months. The way the weeks are flying by, we’ll be singing “Jingle Bell Rock”…

A couple of years ago, I attended a conference where one of the speakers told us that our downtown area reflected the mental state of our people. It made sense to me, but I didn’t believe it was necessarily so. Oakland has had some downtown buildings that were being held by people who had no…

Allen Rogers has already grown the largest watermelon in Mississippi history. Now he believes an even bigger melon may be growing in his patch. Tucked beneath a carefully constructed shade shelter in his Sylva Rena garden are two giant Carolina Cross watermelons that Rogers believes are farther along than any he has grown at this…

The Watermelon Carnival officially begins Thursday, but don’t tell that to the folks growing the big melons. Their competition never really stops, although the smack talk usually picks up in early July. That’s when conversations shift to how hot it will be at this year’s carnival, who has the biggest watermelon, who is bluffing and…

The countdown begins a few minutes before 1 p.m. Family members check their phones while visitors gather around the table. Knives rest beside piles of locally grown watermelons packed in ice. When the phones read exactly 1 p.m., the first slice is served. It wasn’t always that way. One of the first years the Washington…

WATER VALLEY – For more than 30 years, the big WATER VALLEY letters have stood on the hillsides along Highway 315 and Central Street, welcoming home folks, visitors and generations of Carnival crowds. The signs were installed as a Town & Country Garden Club project. Garden Club member Dale Tyler designed the letters and drew…