Among the farms and farm businesses represented today were Vincente Gonzales who brought a truckload of watermelons grown in Bodcaw, Hannah’s Berries with a bounty of tomatoes, Salinas Farm, Arnold’s Farm, Papa’s Honey, Reynold’s Farm, Keep It Simple, Silvey Farm and Joshua Tree, which was selling wooden decorative pieces. 

Fresh tomatoes and squash looked to be the day’s most plentiful items. 

Hope Civitan Club was the day’s host. The 25-member organization specializes in helping those with developmental disabilities Recently, it staged a St. Patrick’s Day dance to fundraise for Rainbow of Challenges, helped sent athletes to Special Olympics, but it also helps pick up trash on city cleanup days. 

Its hallmark fundraiser for the year takes place at the Watermelon Festival in the form of a competitive car show. Civitan also engages in monthly service projects. This month it brought Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations to local eldercare facilities. 

Sylvia Brown, in her capacity as Americorps member, was doing a survey on the quality of internet access in Hempstead County. "This service is about helping our neighbors here in Hempstead County get a piece of the nearly billion dollars that is afforded to Arkansas ... so that we can not only get the infrastructure needed to build out to the rural communities like Blevins, Ozan, Tollette etc, but also the non-employment uses where we help people to use the devices and the Internet to meet their personal and professional needs," she said.