Just Dessert

Ivan Bright's watermelon weighed a whopping 186 Ibs. that Tuesday and was gaining at least 2 Ibs. a day. Could the melon weigh in at 200 Ibs. by midnight Friday and earn its grower a $10,000 prize offered by a booster organization in Hope, Ark.? It did not reach 200 until Sunday, and Bright, 65, a farm-supply-store employee, had to settle for $500 in other prizes. But Bright's future may yet be, well, bright. For one thing, he has sold some of the seeds of his melon, a dozen for $100, and he is convinced that he can raise a 225-pounder next year.

For now, "Ivan's Best" sits proudly on the tailgate of a pickup truck as people line up to have their picture taken with it. When the specimen is finally sliced open, Bright thinks it could feed 200 people. One other just dessert for the citizens of Hope, which calls itself "the Watermelon Capital of the World": Bright's belly buster surpassed the 197-pounder raised by North Carolina's Ed Weeks in 1975, which is listed in the 1979 Guinness Book of World Records.

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