Jaxon Smith with his two trophies; one for winning the 8 to 16 year old division and one for winning the world championship. Photo by Jordan Woodson

The annual watermelon spitting contest, apart of the Hope Watermelon Festival, was held Saturday afternoon where Spring Hill Native Jaxon Smith won the title of World Champion.

Smith won the winners circle spitting contest with a total length of 27 feet 7 inches.

The first contest held was the 7 and under age group. Briley Fincher won the category with a spitting length of 9 feet 6 inches. James Landes and Cynnley Shipp also competed in this category with spitting lengths of 8 feet 9 inches and 4 feet 7 inches, respectively.

The next category was the 8 to 16 year old category. Smith won that category with a spitting length of 20 feet 9 inches. Spring Hill dominated this category with taking up all of the top three. Reese Tarver was right behind Smith with a length of 19 feet and 9 inches and Andrew Carill came in third with a spitting length of 18 feet 4 inches. The rest of the category was competed by Hazle McPherson from Beebe, Ark (15 feet 3 inches), Lucas Smith from Spring Hill (12 feet 4 inches), Ally Jones from Texarkana, Ark (12 feet 1 inches), and Jesu Fincher from McCloud, Texas (10 feet 3 inches).

The next category was the 17 and above category where Hope native AJ (last not not provided) won the category with a spitting length of 27 feet 9 inches. Damon Moten of McNab was close behind with 27 feet even. Topher Novak from Stockton, California and Ben Garrison from Marche tied for third with 21 feet 6 inches. There was another tie between Hope Natives Britney Alvdrado and Zeus Martinez with spitting lengths of 18 feet 6 inches. Chris Shipp from Texarkana, Texas also competed with a length of 18 feet even.

The final championship category was between all three winners of the previous categories. Briley Fincher did not compete however because she did not show up so it was just between Smith and AJ to compete for the title of Hope Watermelon Spitting World Champion. Smith beat out AJ by 7 full inches.

Photos by Jordan Woodson