Peter and the Plants: Watermelon Fest 2013

Each year, one of Coe's fraternities, Lambda Chi, hosts a Watermelon Fest. A lot of watermelon is involved and all the proceeds they raise goes towards their local philanthropy, Waypoint. It always looked like a lot of fun, but I never got my act together to be on a team and participate.

That was NOT the case this year. Because it's my senior year, I keep trying to check things off a running bucket list in my head. Watermelon Fest was one of those items. So I recruited my friends Olivia, Peter, and Luke to form a Watermelon Fest team.

Our first task was to pick out a team name. We wanted something clever and finally after many possible team costume ideas for groups of four (cardinal directions, humps on a camel, seasons, elements) we came up with this team name:

Peter and the Plants.

Cue this song (thanks YouTube)

Pretty clever is it not? And so this team was born:

L to R: Olivia, Peter, myself, and Luke

So the big day finally came. Peter and the Plants arrived, ready to eat some watermelon. The Lambda Chis got a great turnout and we were in for a lot of fun. Our first test was to carve a watermelon. That was not the easiest task and it wasn't until about half-way through the test did we realize our carving had to be Coe related! Lucky for us, our carving could easily be turned Coe relatable (thanks to my Admission training and Peter's involvement with E-Club). See if you can figure out what we carved:

It's a flower from Coe's permaculture garden in front of Murray Hall, emphasizing Coe's sustainability efforts and our efforts to be eco-friendly. Our nifty carving earned us fourth place! Woot! 

From there, we didn't have the best showing (we didn't win anything else), but we had a lot of fun. And we ate a lot of watermelon. I mean, a lot. Although we never did get the knack of eating watermelon quickly. I think this picture of Olivia shows how much fun we had: 

At the end, we had some fun with the remaining watermelons. The weather was ideal and it was great way to end the fest. Also, everyone left with a prize, which were donated from the various sponsors of the fest! I went home with a stomach full of watermelon and a nice Starbuck mug for my coffee or tea in the morning. 

I was so so glad I participated in the 2013 Watermelon Fest. Not only did I help support an excellent cause, but I got to have a lot of fun with my friends. We had great costumes and a great team and it's something I'll remember for years to come (because how can you forget a team name like Peter and the Plants?!?!). For you prospective students, if you come to Coe you HAVE to participate in Watermelon Fest. It's just too much fun to pass up!