Truth behind bizarre ban on eating watermelon in US parks

Food laws can be pretty bizarre, not least because they would be so hard to enforce.

There’s a popular myth in the UK that it’s illegal to eat mince pies on Christmas Day, per a ruling from Oliver Cromwell in the 1600s, but even if that were true it’s hard to imagine any self-respecting police officer trying to uphold it.

In Beech Grove near Indianapolis, there’s a curious food law that’s more than a myth but less than a pressing concern for local enjoyers of a particular fruit.

The small town, with a population of 15,000, is quaint and cute despite being within a stone’s throw of the state capital, and nothing speaks to its sleepiness quite like the fact it’s been written into law that you can’t eat watermelons in its public parks - well, so they say.

The law is still in place in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis (Jeremy Poland/Getty Images)

That’s right, it's believed to be actually illegal to eat a watermelon in Beech Grove’s parks.

You might think that Indiana, home to land of which 80% is reserved for farming and woodland, would be a pretty chilled out about people enjoying fresh fruit in its green spaces, but apparently not.

At least, it seems the municipality of Beech Grove isn’t chilled out about it, anyway.

The law was confirmed by a WRTV report in 2017 which had reached out to board members of the Beech Grove local government, with legislators saying the ban had already been in place for a number of years.

Apparently, it’s down to the fact that watermelon rinds can pierce the bags in public trash cans. There must have been a real spate of watermelon rind-tossing hooligans frequenting Beech Grove’s parks for this to have even crossed someone’s radar, but if a law was passed then we can only assume that a watermelon-based scourge once stalked Beech Grove’s streets.

All manner of other items can pierce trash bags of course, so perhaps watermelon rinds were just an unfortunate scapegoat for this parochial little town’s trash problems.

That said, it doesn't seem as though the ban is taken all that seriously in the area, despite the confused word-of-mouth.

Finding evidence of the legislation beyond the WRTV report is easier said than done – read: impossible for this writer – and it doesn’t look as though any of these wanton criminals have ever been brought to justice, at least not publicly.

It appears that these suspects are still at large (Robert Deutschman/Getty Images)

But, if you’re a Beech Grove local and you’d rather stay on the right side of the law, we recommend carving your watermelon at home and disposing of the rind responsibly, just in case.

Of course, if you’re the kind of ne'er-do-well who would dare to flout the law, then we can’t stop you. We can only appeal to your better self. For the good of the integrity of the Beech Grove public park trash can bags, please try to control yourself.