Contestants compete at Sauerkraut Days’ watermelon-eating contest

FORRESTON — It was a day of firsts for two contestants and a repeat performance for another at the watermelon-eating contest at Sauerkraut Days on Saturday.

Kennlee Seiber, 9, of Forreston, lined up with six kids in her age group and efficiently munched and slurped her way to a first-place finish.

“I just love watermelon,” said Kennlee when asked about her contest strategy.

Two competitors away from Kennlee, Onalee Sieber, 8, and Finley Feldman, 9, couldn’t stop laughing and watching each other as they tried to eat their way to the rind.

But in the next division, 12-year-old Rory Welch, also of Forreston, hit a different kind of obstacle.

“I lost a tooth to a watermelon,” she said smiling. “I just felt something crunchy and then I felt a tooth missing. So, I looked on the ground and it was there.”

Sauerkraut Days Committee member Kathy Bickford, who also served as “official watermelon slicer,” gave Rory a paper towel to wrap her tooth in.

“Well, that’s a first,” Bickford said. “We’ve never had that happen before.”

Rory didn’t let one less tooth stop her from finishing her slice.

In the final age division, Jakob Kolber, 16, of Forreston, was all business as he sought to claim this year’s title.

He gulped down his slice and even made a strategic flip of the rind at the end as he gobbled his way to first place.

“I wasn’t here last year because I was on a mission trip,” he said. “I won it the year before so I wanted to win this year, too.”

Winners of each age division had to devour age-appropriate melon slices to win an official Sauerkraut Days medal and a can of Frank’s Sauerkraut.

The eating contest was just one of several events held during the three-day festival.