How to go
What: Lebanon Country Music Festival
When: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday
Where: Mulberry Street, Lebanon
Cost: Free
More info: 513-228-2322 or www.lebanoncountrymusicfest.com
According to Google, the world record for watermelon seed spitting is 75.2 feet, achieved by Jason Schayot in Georgetown, Texas, in 1995. It remains to be seen whether any participant at the Lebanon Country Music Festival this weekend will be able to beat that distance.
“Someone on our crazy committee suggested it,” laughed Jo Wise, executive director of Historic Downtown Lebanon, Inc. (HDLI). “We were just trying to think of old-school, fun contests that they used to do at the old county fairs.”
This Saturday is the second year for the Lebanon Country Music Festival, created in partnership between the HDLI and the Lebanon Rotary Club as a signature fundraiser for revitalizing the historic downtown area and funding civic programs for local youths. Wise said the inaugural festival last year surpassed all expectations.
“We were just hoping to break even,” she said. “But we wound up in the black by about $28,000. We had about 10,000 people here and great weather. We advertise in Cincinnati and Dayton, and we had people from Kentucky, Indiana and all over Ohio. We have high hopes for this year.”
The first festival featured only live music. So in the interest of expanding upon a promising beginning, organizers have added a second stage of entertainment, which will include line dancing, clogging, a karaoke “Country Idol” competition, a pie eating contest, a hog calling contest and, last but not least, the watermelon seed spitting contest.
“ ‘Country Idol’ will be judged by audience participation, so I’d recommend to anyone who’s going to enter to make sure you have as much family and friends there as possible,” Wise said. “There will be an actual judge for the hog callers, and they’ll be judged on volume and style, similar to an auctioneer. It’s hysterical.”
In the end, however, this is primarily a music festival, and Wise promises a lineup of country music from artists of varying generations and locales.
“We’re focusing a little more on bluegrass this year,” she said. “But we also have a young kid from Nashville named Taylor Lynch, who does a newer style. The Lebanon Grand Opry House does old-style country. (Wright State Senior) Alexis Gomez won the K99 contest last year for Best Country Artist. It’s a good lineup.”
About the Author