By Leslie Lowe
April 23 was an exciting day in the beach… Peninsula Sports Park’s annual Watermelon Crawl & Beach Parade rolled through Crystal Beach raising money for PSP operations and Scholarships. We had over 225 entries with well over 275 people joining us for the ride which started at Jose’s where Crawlers arrived with some very creatively decorated watermelons and we held a rubber ducky game which the winner was awarded a table and 2 chairs made by Julie Moore at Island Time Designs with a Tommy Bahama back yard pool party. Next, they went to TIKI where Chris & Karen Gatlin once again provided our Crawlers with a fabulous spread of beautiful snacks they generously donate every year. One 10 Realty Group sponsored the games at Tiki which included Hidden Painted Rocks with with 5 lucky winners getting large water toys including a 7 foot Llama and a 6 foot fire hydrant water sprinklers and an exciting Dice Game in which Raquel Briggs West won a complete beach package including a very popular Shibumi donated by The Big Store. The Crawl paraded down the beach to make a loop through Sandy Shores then landing at G’s Molcajete where the staff had fresh watermrlon treats and drinks waiting and a lucky Hunter Stafford walked away with a CUSTOM Glass Tattoo by guessing the number of M&M’s in a jar and only missing by 3!!! The Crawl ended at The Eagles where the all day long BINGO game came to an end with all the winners breaking the tie with an old school game of Musical Chairs ( Sandlot Beach Rentsls provided our chairs) to crown Mr Craig Jewell as the 2022 Watermelon Crawl Champion. The grand prize was a full day use of one of the new Cruisin’ Cabanas which is decked out with blue tooth speakers, LED lighting, a margarita maker, fridge, generator, and more! This grand prize was donated by Cruisin’ Cabanas.

Trophies were given for Best Decorated golf carts, Jeeps, watermelons, and costumes. Finally, there were silent auction items as well as a live auction full of generously donated items.

The Watermelon Crawl is the annual Springtime FUNdraiser for Peninsula Sports Park which helps keep youth athletic programs available on the peninsula as well as providing scholarships to local graduating Seniors who have participated in PSP.

Special Thanks to Janie Mayfield, Hollie Martin, Shauna Schroeder, Peggy Johnson, Cathi Ropp, Mary Marks, and Marsha Freddenburg for all the help organizing. David Harris at Bolivar Tourism for advertising and allowing us to take over his office in preparation of the Crawl, Randy Martin for always being supportive and helpful through all our events! Randy and Hollie aren’t just Sponsors, they go all in with hard work, organizing, late hours, and so much more!!! This event requires a lot of work and this crew definitely did it! We appreciate the Eagles hospitality and use of their fantastic venue as well.

Sponsors, participants, parents and players, coaches, and all participating stops …THANK YOU ALL!!!!

We had a Great time and great turnout 🍉😎🍉😎🍉