Officials Aim to Close the East-West Divide

[quote style=”2″]Hermiston Officials Deliver Produce to Portland[/quote]

Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann and City of Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman squared off in a watermelon seed spitting contest on Friday at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland.

Drotzmann and the Hermiston delegation also gave away 6,000 pounds of Hermiston watermelons to a large crowd of happy Portlanders.

Friday’s contest and giveaway was the second annual event aimed at improving connections between the two largest cities on each side of the state. The Hermiston group won the friendly seed spitting contest for the second year.

“We’re really happy that we can continue this great event and continue to build on our relationship with our partners in Portland,” said Drotzmann.

In the 1980s, then-Hermiston Mayor Frank Harkenrider challenged then-Portland Mayor Bud Clark to a watermelon seed spitting contest, and started an annual contest and watermelon giveaway which lasted until 2007.

At the request of Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, the event was resurrected in 2015 and again featured a seed spitting contest, and watermelon giveaway which saw more than 5,000 pounds of Hermiston watermelons get hauled away by happy Portlanders in less than 30 minutes.

Although they didn’t compete in the contest in 2015, both former Mayors Clark and Harkenrider attended the rejuvenated event.