There’s nothing like watermelon on a hot summer day, or even a sunny fall day. Ike Smith, of Solon Township, brought in one of his prize watermelons and showed it off to Post staff last week. He weighed it at the Cedar Springs Mill and it came in at 38.5 pounds.

“They usually weigh in at 10-12 pounds,” he remarked.

Smith said the watermelon was a crimson sweet, and he gave it lots of water and fertilizer.
He still would have a long way to go, however, to beat the melon in the Guinness book of records—a 268 pound watermelon grown in Hope, Arkansas 5 years ago. In 2007, a man in Michigan grew one that was 255 pounds.