Southern Olympics: Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest

As the real Olympics are going on in Rio right now, I want to take a look at some of the Olympics you can find in Middle Tennessee:



I suppose this contest makes for not too interesting photos. This is the best I had. It's one of those contests where a bunch of kids and a few adults enter, and the big tall guys win, just like the moon pie toss.

Southern Olympics: RC Cola can balance

As the real Olympics are going on in Rio right now, I want to take a look at some of the Olympics you can find in Middle Tennessee:





At the 2008 RC Cola and Moon Pie festival in Bell Buckle, TN, just as they have done in years past, some "Olympic" games were played. This contest was the RC Cola Dash. The "Dash" part is a little misleading as this was not a speed contest, but more focused on skill and accuracy.





The Rules: Take an open but full RC Cola can and balance it on your head. If you can make it all the way to the finish line (about 20 feet away) without dropping it (or steadying it with your hand - which would be cheating) you go on to round two. In round two, you stack two RC cans on your head. 4 contestants made it past round two onto round 3 stacking 3 RC cans on their head!

Now for the second round with two cans stacked!





Here are the finalists who could stack three open RC cans!

This boy came in third place:



This girl has the look of intensity and has won the contest in previous years, but this year she came in second.



Not only was this girl a finalist, but was also the winner as she made it one full step with three cans stacked, which no other finalist could do

Southern Olympics: Moon Pie Toss

Right now, the 2016 Rio Olympics are going on. Let's take a look at an Olympic sport you can find in Middle Tennessee:





At the RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival in Bell Buckle, TN, each year they have a series of contests, or Olympic Games. The first contest is the Moon Pie Toss. The gentlemen pictured above was one such participant in the fine sport of a Confection Distance Thrust.



These are the 1st, second and third place winners from the contest

The Blue Ribbon 1st place winner in the cutoff shorts said he came all the way from St. Louis. That's real dedication to participate in a fine sport of confection distance thrust. I'm thinking he undergoes a highly regimented cross-training program for this sort of all year long. I think his throw went about 200 feet and would have gone further if it hadn't have hit a tree branch.

The Red Ribbon 2nd place winner appears like he's trying to look like he's too cool for this.

I asked my wife to describe the expression of the daughter of the third place yellow ribbon winner. She said "Been in the sun too long"

Welcom to Bell Buckle sign

This was the sign in Bell Buckle as of 2010. The next one is the previous sign that was replaced

Happy April Fools Day!

For me, the highlight of the yearly RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival was a play starring the locals, young and old. It was low budget and put on by volunteers. However, I liked how you could see that they put in a lot of effort and it had a lot of that quaint small town charm. The story was essentially the pairing of Mr. RC Cola and Miss Moon Pie loosely set to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream. As an added bonus, for no apparent reason, most characters acted their parts while standing in a wading pool.

In this scene, those who attempt to translate the king's riddle make no sense, thereby confusing the rest of the cast. Some characters are seen wearing an outfit of GooGoo clusters. While the GooGoo is another Middle Tennessee delicacy, the are the enemy to a town full of Moon Pie lovers.

The 2012 Bell Buckle event is on June 16

The Courtship of RC Cola and Moon Pie

The RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival in Bell Buckle is Today! If you were on the fence about whether or not to go, maybe this will convince you.

For me, the highlight of the festival is a play starring the locals. It was low budget put on by volunteers, but I liked it as they put in a lot of effort and it had a lot of small town charm that I like. The story was essentially the pairing of Mr. RC Cola and Miss Moon Pie loosely set to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream. For no apparent reason, most characters acted their parts while standing in a wading pool.

RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival: Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest

One of the Quintessential small town southern festivals is tomorrow in the quaint town of Bell Buckle, the yearly RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival. There are all kinds of contests for the young and the old, like the watermelon seed spitting contest.

I suppose this contest makes for not too interesting photos. This is the best I had. It's one of those contests where a bunch of kids and a few adults enter, and the big tall guys win, just like the moon pie toss.

RC Cola Dash

The RC Cola and Moon Pie festival is this Saturday, and here's a glimpse of what you can expect...

At the 2008 RC Cola and Moon Pie festival in Bell Buckle, TN, just as they have done in years past, some "Olympic" games were played. This contest was the RC Cola Dash. The "Dash" part is a little misleading as this was not a speed contest, but more focused on skill and accuracy.

The Rules: Take an open but full RC Cola can and balance it on your head. If you can make it all the way to the finish line (about 20 feet away) without dropping it (or steadying it with your hand - which would be cheating) you go on to round two. In round two, you stack two RC cans on your head. 4 contestants made it past round two onto round 3 stacking 3 RC cans on their head! The girl in the red shirt was sadly not one of them.

Bell Buckle, TN Mural

Great Mural - Tough to photograph location as this is sort of facing an alley.

Bell Buckle is now home to the famous RC Cola and Moon Pie festival which takes place on a Saturday in June. I plan on being there, but it's also good to visit the small town and enjoy the charm on a day when a large number of people don't show up.

I split the mural in half and show those two photos below.



On the far left is a black TN Walking horse. In the tree, it mentions WEBB School, the city's most famous school. Next is the city's red L&N Train caboose.

Having to work two windows into the mural, the red barn is painted with two windows. In the mian window is a cow with a bell hanging out the window. The cow is licking the boys ice cream cone. In the other window is a blue ribbon winning TN walking horse.



On the left of this picture is a christmas tree. Next is a motorcyclist driving up to the row of stores (mostly antique stores) that make up the center of town. The back of these stores are behind me. In the center of the parking area is the red white and blue quilt pattern. The tallest building with the flag in front of it is the town hall.

The lookout Moon Pie has been made in Chattanooga Since 1917. If there's any other brand, I haven't seen it. I hadn't bought a moon pie in many years, and didn't even know there were new flavors of Orange, Lemon and Strawberry. The guy in the store said those flavors had been around for over a decade as I paid 75 cents for a double decker orange moon pie, not realizing I could get one for half that price at most other places in the south. Later, I bought a box of 12 at walmart for $3.

Finally is a vintage bottle of Royal Crown Cola. I'd never seen that old design before, until I was in the store with the 75 cent moon pies, as they had these vintage bottles of RC for over $100. I fully expect to pay $2 for a current bottle of RC at the festival, at which point, I won't desire another RC for another year.