 | The 2007 Chinchilla Melon Festival will be remembered as the "record breaking" festival - in every sense of the word. | |
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|  | Held over nine days, the longest in the history of the event, the festival was attended by over 6000 people, who flocked to Heeney Street and the School Oval for the street parade, markets and melon-themed events, which took place on Saturday, 17th February. |
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| The records started tumbling on Friday afternoon as an Australian record for the heaviest melon was set at Fuller Place, Chinchilla. The melon was grown by father and son combination Bernie and Matthew Davies in a Chinchilla backyard. The melon weighed in at a staggering 87 kilograms! |  |
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|  | The crowning achievement was the successful attempt at the Guinness World Record of Melon Smashing held late on Saturday afternoon. Chinchilla local, John Allwood smashed through 40 watermelons using only his "melon" in just one minute - the previous record was thirty-six. Film crews and cameramen caught this achievement and within hours this remarkable footage was being viewed all around the globe. |
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| The Festival is all about fun, and visitors and locals alike could not get enough of the melon-themed games. The ever-popular melon skiing again proved to be a huge drawcard, but other old favourites like melon bungee and melon bullseye were big hits for the crowd. AFL great and Getaway TV presenter had a go at just about everything and even through a shock entrant in the pip spitting, he surprised even himself to take out the Champion Pip Spitter of 2007 Chinchilla Melon Festival. |  |
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|  | The vibrant street parade with the colourful markets added to the overall spectacle of the day. The Poets Breakfast held on both Saturday and Sunday morning brought tears of joy and laughter from the large crowds in attendance. Other events such as the Arts and Crafts Review, the Health Lifestyle Luncheon and the Triathlon helped make 2007 the recording smashing festival it was. |
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| The 2009 Chinchilla Melon Festival is due to be held from February 19th to 22nd, with Saturday 21st being the big Family Fun day which includes the street parade, the markets and the melon games. |  |
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| | For further information please phone 07 4668 9090 (business hours only) | |
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| | Photos from the Chinchilla Melon Festival - Kindly supplied by John Farmer from the Chinchilla News | |
