RAMONA – About a dozen boys and girls sat around a white plastic table yesterday staring eagerly – or perhaps hungrily – at the watermelon wedges stacked high in front of them.
JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
At the Ramona Country Fair on Saturday, Piper Conley (left) of Olivenhain Valley 4-H got help with her ewe from Danyelle O'Brien of Valley Center 4-H. The ewe, Sugar, fetched more than $3 a pound.
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The contest rules were simple. 1: Eat down to the rind, leaving no red showing, and 2: Eat as much as possible, as fast as possible, within 10 minutes.
Young participants were told that the winner of the watermelon-eating contest, one of several spirited attractions at the 38th annual Ramona Country Fair, would receive a plaque for his or her, uh, talents.
There was no mention, however, of any remedies for any sufferers of a watermelon-induced bellyache.
It didn't seem to matter.
Competitors attacked the fruit with gusto, ignoring the juice running down their fingers and the red stains, like a clown's painted grin, spreading across their faces.
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Ramona Country Fair
When: Today, noon to 11 p.m.
Where: Fifth Street and Aqua Lane, Ramona
Admission: Free
Concert: $15 and up
Fare: Live music, food and beverage booths and shopping
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Spurring on the action was 17-year-old Taylor Miville, one of the winners of the 2008 Miss Ramona Rodeo pageant. She urged her fellow rodeo queens to join the contest.
“You can't let the queens over here beat you in all their makeup and shiny crowns,” Miville said to the contestants.
The fair, which began Thursday, had most of the traditional trappings of other summer fairs – much like the bigger, louder San Diego County Fair in Del Mar but with a more bucolic feel.
“It's a country fair in the country,” said Carol Fowler, president of the Ramona Chamber of Commerce, which organized the event. “We would invite the city slickers to come on up to Ramona and have a real taste of the country right in their backyard.”
JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Cousins Carlos Santoyo (left), 10, and Christian Santoyo, both of Valley Center, watched the livestock auction at the Ramona Country Fair on Saturday.
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Fair-goers enjoyed an assortment of sweets and fried foods, carnival rides and live music yesterday. A concert featuring country music singer-songwriter Hal Ketchum is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight.
In the barns, children and teens involved in 4-H and Future Farmers of America cared for their livestock and prepared to put the animals up for auction.
Desiree Nihart, 15, of Ramona gave her 222-pound Hampshire pig a quick rinse in the early afternoon. The 6-month-old pig, Bam Bam, won a ribbon but wasn't judged as highly as Nihart had expected.
Bam Bam was third in class. Still, Nihart remained confident the pig would draw a high price.
“I think I'm going to do pretty well,” she said.
Over at the watermelon-eating contest, time ran out, and 9-year-old Jacob Hester emerged the victor. The third-grader from Ramona gladly posed for a photo, his denim shorts soaked at the thighs with watermelon juice.
It turns out, he was no stranger to the competition.
Asked what he planned to do with his plaque, Jacob said: “I'll put it by my trophy I won last year.”
Dana Littlefield: (619) 542-4590; dana.littlefield@uniontrib.com
