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  • Jeff Kaley

    7-23 Watermelon
July 23, 2008

‘King’ rules strip

Elvis helps decide one contest champ during 43rd Watermelon Jubilee

Jeff Kaley

Among the floats and displays winning competitions at Saturday’s 43rd Terral Watermelon Jubilee were young people playing baseball and some others playing watermelon beach volleyball. There was a replica train and a nod to the great American game of football.

But as dozens of contestants in the Classic Car Show discovered along Terral’s version of “the strip,” no one can beat “The King.”

When Dana Terry brought out a lawn chair and Elvis Presley — or at least, a life-sized version of Elvis — sat down in it, Terry’s entry in the car show had a definite advantage.

It also didn’t hurt that Terry, a Wichita Falls, Texas car enthusiast, had his Elvis doll sitting in front of a mint-condition, 1962 Corvette.

“When I go to a car show, Elvis always has to go,” Terry said, after his ’62 Vette was named the Best Car in Show and the Most Popular Car in Show at the melon festival on Apache Street.

“I have a Willie Nelson doll, too, but I can’t handle both of them at all the shows. But Elvis always has to be there,” Terry added.

As is the annual ritual, thousands of folks descended on Terral for the two-day melon celebration, which began with a Mexican street dance on Friday evening and ended with a county and rock dance on Saturday night. And although Elvis may have been the only “international star” on the scene, on Saturday afternoon, Whitney Villarreal became a local celebrity.

Villarreal was crowned the 2008 Terral Watermelon Jubilee “Miss Watermelon,” claiming one of the top honors among 20 youngsters who were candidates in the Jubilee Pageant. (See list of winners, Page 14.)

In the float competition, first place went to the youth group at First Baptist Church of Terral, for their baseball-oriented entry dubbed “Throwing Our Heart to Jesus.”

Second place was captured by the float containing the 2008 Queen and King contestants, an entry titled “Hittin’ ’Em ‘n’ Spittin’ ’Em,” which was sponsored by the Jubilee committee. In third was the float titled “Watermelon Volleyball Olympics,” sponsored by Cindy Bryan Morton and Bryan 4B Angus.

Saturday morning’s festivities began with the Kiddie Parade, with the winning entry going to Lily York and Andrew Caudale, who had a football-oriented entry. Second place went to Earston Adams of Wichita Falls, who brought in a replica train that not only entered the parade but also became a source of rides for young and old throughout the day.

Third-place entry in the Kiddie Parade was the Terral Melon Olympics entry that featured Mason Martin and Ethan and Nolan Coskery.

The main parade Saturday morning featured Debbie Tanner, who was named Terral’s 2008 Citizen of the Year.

Also in the main parade were entries in the Classic Car and Old Tractor Shows, the Terral Volunteer Fire Department, two riding club entries, a motorcycle club entry, the 2007 Jubilee Royal Court and a variety of political candidates who are running for county offices in the 2008 elections.

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