BRISTOL — Cool, pink juices dribbled off the chins of about a dozen children as they devoured watermelons over folding tables as part of the 2019 Bristol Homecoming Festival at Congdon Park Saturday.
The youths competed in the 12-and-under division of the watermelon eating contest, racing to see who could eat their melon clean to the rind first. Aaron Angelmeyer, a Goshen Middle School seventh-grader, prevailed to claim victory and a trophy.
The tall, 12-year-old considered passing on the event at first. But then he sized up the crowd of children gathering at the tables in front of the park’s gazebo and was confident he could take them.
“I felt like I was going to win,” Angelmeyer said later while walking with his family.
Angelmeyer’s mother, Cherie Ran, said he used to watch the show "Man vs. Food" and wanted to get into food challenges like the show’s host. Other family laughed in agreement. He smiled and blushed a little. Moms.
Meanwhile, Alison Stanford, 13, competed in the watermelon contest in the teen division and came close to winning. She and her younger sister Emily, who was in the kids contest, attended the festival as part of a trip from their home in Colorado to visit their grandparents in Bristol, she said.
Indicating she had a great time, Stanford planned to stay for the fireworks that capped the end of the three-day festival.
Carnival rides, food booths and merchandise stalls filled the park. On one end, a section was decorated and devoted to entertaining young children with games and balloon animals. On the other end, near the river, the Bristol Fire Department grilled and sold hamburgers and cheeseburgers Saturday. Daniel Kurtz, a firefighter and paramedic, said the sales were part of a fundraiser to help the department purchase new equipment.
Events at the festival included the Bristol Homecoming Queen pageant Thursday, a tractor pull Friday, a parade on Saturday and music at the Congdon Park gazebo.
“This whole festival is about family — family, town and children,” said Cathy Burke, a festival organizer and town board member.
Burke said the Bristol Homecoming Festival is the latest version of an annual festival that’s been running for the past 136 years, starting as a harvest festival in 1836. She believed the event is the, or one of the, longest continual running festival in Indiana.
Burke worked with an eight-person team, pulling double time, to organize the Homecoming Festival, she said.
“Something like this, you can’t let it die. It’s part of the town,” Burke said.
Aimee Ambrose can be reached at aimee.ambrose@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 316.
