People are drawn yearly to the celebrate the Alresford Watercress Festival, which includes a competitive eating event. File photo from watercress.co.uk/festival/
On Sunday, Alredford held its acclaimed annual festival to celebrate the season's first harvest of a vegetable that dates to 400 B.C.
The festival's centerpiece was the watercress eating competition.
Sixteen people stuffed their mouths full of the vegetable. Guinness world record holder Glen Walsh, who won the title in 2013 in 32 seconds, managed to hold onto the crown for the fifth straight year. This time, he took one minute and 37 seconds to accomplish the feat. He said he plans to be back next year to surpass his personal best.
The center of the town was taken over by the event, which included food vendors, music, arts, crafts, clothing and children's activities.
