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Expat Living

Watermelon seed spitting king relinquishes his crown

The ouster of the 2013 Watermelon Seed Spitting Champion of Western Mexico was a highlight of this year’s July Fourth picnic at St. Mark’s Anglican/Episcopal Church in Guadalajara.

The closely fought competition came at the end of the party, held Sunday, July 5 after many of the 80 attendees had gone home, tuckered out after an afternoon of eating barbecued pork, running in a three-legged race and sweating out a two-hour beanbag toss.

Trino Palomera, a seminarian at San Andres Anglican Seminary in suburban Guadalajara, unexpectedly routed the defending champion spitter, Jim Priddy, who is rector at St. Mark’s. Priddy had been the hands-down winner in 2013 and was expected to easily triumph again this year. 

“Nobody came close to Jim last year,” said one participant, “Everyone else spit just a few yards or less and Jim’s seeds went about five times as far. Maybe ten.” So overwhelming had Priddy’s victory been that few people signed up to spit this year, until tempted by a plaintive request and a low ticket price of five pesos. 

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