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Watermelon Wars words Dwain Hebda images courtesy Rodney Steele and Cave City Festival Organizers
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Arkansas is a land largely unmarred by military conflict, save one: the Civil War Battle at Pea Ridge. Fought in the northwest corner of the state over three days in 1862, it cost nearly four thousand lives with Confederate dead outnumbering those of the Union by a thousand. It’s not only the lone major battle fought in The Natural State, it’s the only one that comes close to the passion and ferocity with which residents of Cave City and Hope have defended their respective claims as the globe’s top spot for watermelons through the years. To be fair, both sides admit there’s a difference in their titles – Hope claims the World’s Largest Watermelon and Cave City the World’s Sweetest – and that has managed to maintain the détente between the two communities, which sit roughly diagonal to each other in the northeast and southwest corners of the state. “Well, you know, I’m going to be a typical politician, though I’m not a politician,” says Julie Johnson, chairperson of the Cave City Watermelon Festival. “I think Arkansas is plenty big enough to have two watermelon festivals. “We are the home of the world’s sweetest watermelons and Hope is the home of the world’s largest watermelons. So, it’s just apples and oranges. You can’t really compare. Ours are sweeter. Theirs are bigger.” “There’s something in the soil, whether it’s in Hope or Cave City, that’s the key,” says Beckie Moore, executive
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