For as long as anyone who has lived or visited the Outer Banks can recall, there has been a Kitty Hawk Kites Watermelon Festival at the main store in Nags Head. It can't be longer than 40 years ago, because that's how old KHK is, but the festival started sometime in its early days.
It's a wonderful day . . . how can anyone criticize a festival that includes watermelon bowling, an ice cream eating contest, watermelon construction projects and of course a watermelon seed spitting contest.
And of course, face painting. We're not talking about a single rose on a cheek; this is the “whole-face painting”-kids walking around looking like their ready for a street mime show.
Kitty Hawk Kites has built a reputation on being a great place to take kids and the Watermelon Festival is all part of that. Every Wednesday during the summer, it's kid's day-and they spread that around to a number of their stores, although the largest and most extensive is by far at their Nags Head location.
But today belonged to the Watermelon Contest . . . a day to make kids giggle and parents smile-and if they weren't smiling after a couple of minutes, well, the maybe they need to remember what it's like to be a kid again.
