The National Watermelon Promotion Board has named winners in its annual Retail Merchandising Contest, which garnered more than 150 entries from various retail chains, independent retailers and commissaries throughout the U.S. and Canada. This year’s contest — the 13th since its inception —  continued to support mixed media marketing efforts in addition to in-store displays.

To mark National Watermelon Day, Syngenta Vegetable Seeds has introduced a new seedless watermelon variety — Valor — developed to help growers maximize profitability. Introduced in the 2022 growing season, for every new Valor plant sold through the Syngenta Full Count Plant Program, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to American veterans’ organizations through the National Watermelon Association. This initiative is being funded by Syngenta’s Full Count Plant Program, which provides Syngenta genetics to every major U.S. production region from preferred transplant producers.

The Eastern Cantaloupe Growers Association, a leading food safety and advocacy group for Eastern cantaloupe growers, has teamed up with key food influencers to highlight the difference between cantaloupes grown during the balmy summers in the South and Midwest and those in the West.

Earlier this month Lubbock, TX, residents were treated to a sweet display of watermelons — over 12,000 watermelons to be exact. The Food King located in Lubbock hosted a watermelon marketing event of epic proportions, breaking a world record for the largest watermelon display.

Melon is the name of the game at Legend Produce LLC, as the company is one of the largest year-round shippers of cantaloupe in the United States.

“We do about 5-6 million packages of cantaloupe throughout the domestic season and another 1-2 million packages during the offshore season when we import from Central America,” said Justin Bootz, sales manager for the Dos Palos, CA-based Legend Produce.

Legend Produce was founded in 1999 and is a family-owned-and-operated company that’s been in the cantaloupe business for four generations.

The Eastern Cantaloupe Growers Association, a leading food-safety and advocacy group for Eastern Cantaloupe growers in the Midwest and eastern U.S., has announced the launch of its Flavor of Sunshine campaign to support the 2021 Eastern Cantaloupe season. The annual campaign helps drive business for retailers with consumer-facing marketing components such as branded PLU stickers on the fruit, recipes and a social media campaign that promotes the benefits of Eastern Cantaloupes.