DATE: Sunday, June 22, 1997                 TAG: 9706200103

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: TRAVELWISE

SOURCE: STEPHEN HARRIMAN

                                            LENGTH:  117 lines

TURBEVILLE CANTALOUPES ARE WORTH A TRIP

MAYBE IT'S A BIT early to be writing about happenings a month away in July, but I don't think so. If I had written this even earlier, maybe I wouldn't have already scheduled something else at the same time as the Turbeville Cantaloupe Festival. Again.

When will I learn? It's the fourth Wednesday in July. Always. July 23 this year. Write that down on the calendar. Fourth Wednesday in July. Clip this column and save it.

I am intrigued by a cantaloupe that is so good - so sweet, so succulent, I'm told - that it has generated its own festival. And gotten itself patented. I am so intrigued that I intend to drive, one of these years, over to Halifax County, on beyond South Boston, to check it out. Watch 'em grow, I suppose; and eat some, for sure. On the fourth Wednesday in July.

They say what makes Turbeville cantaloupes taste so good is dirt. They grow in a special chocolate brown soil called Wickham in a narrow strip of land along the Dan River in Southside Virginia. Nowhere else. Not a real Turbeville anyway.

Only a handful of farmers raise them. One is John Wade, and the festival is held on his farm, about nine miles west of South Boston on U.S. 58 near the intersection of Virginia Route 658.

The celebration runs from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m., and costs $20 per person. They have plenty of other stuff to eat besides cantaloupe, and there will be live beach music including an appearance by the original Rhondells. Info: (804) 572-3085. ALSO IN JULY . . .

July 4 is a very special occasion at Monticello, where Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson lived and where he died exactly 50 years after the signing of the document. Each year at Monticello on the anniversary of the birth of this nation there is a naturalization ceremony in which people from countries around the world take the oath of U.S. citizenship.

It's a particularly moving occasion to see what becoming an American means to these people. Those of us who made it automatically by getting born here sometimes take it for granted.

Retired Gen. Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the son of Jamaican immigrants, will address the new citizens in this year's ceremony.

Monticello is about three miles southeast of Charlottesville, off I-64. It's about three hours from South Hampton Roads. General admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for children 6-11. Info: (804) 984-9822.

Elsewhere in Virginia:

July 5-6. Grundig/UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. More than 200 men and women cyclists representing 20 countries compete in downhill action on the slopes of Massanutten Resort, the only U.S. site for the World Cup series in 1997. Near Harrisonburg. Begins at noon July 5, 11:30 a.m. om July 6. Amateurs can compete in the Massanutten Hoo-Ha on July 4. Info: (540) 289-4954.

July 19-20. Pork, Peanut & Pine Festival, at Chippokes Plantation State Park in Surry County. More than 240 artist and crafts persons, mule rides, a kids' corner, antique gas and steam engines, plus (as the name implies) things to eat and a sawmill to watch. Info: (757) 294-3625.

July 30-31. The 72nd annual Pony Swim and Auction. The wild ponies of Assateague Island capture the imaginations of tens of thousands each year as they swim the channel to Chincoteague Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore. The swim is Wednesday, the auction is Thursday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Unsold ponies head back to Assateague. Info: (757) 336-6161.

Also, county fairs. About mid-July, when the crops start coming in and the livestock is looking good, well, folks want to show off the stuff. These fairs are great places to check out what rural life in Virginia is all about. Scheduled this month:

Madison County Fair, July 16-19. Near town of Madison. Info: (540) 948-3020.

Rockbridge Regional Fair, July 22-26. Virginia Horse Center near Lexington. Info: (540) 463-3777.

Fauquier County Fair, July 25-27. At Marshall in Northern Virginia Hunt Country. Info: (540) 439-2304.

Orange County Fair, July 25-27. At Montpelier, home of President James Madison, near town of Orange. (nfo: (540) 672-1361.

They really get going in August and extend into September. WHICH K.C.?

A reader called to ask which Kansas City - Missouri or Kansas? - has the great food I mentioned here mentioned last week. Missouri. That's what almost everybody means when they say K.C. The other part across the river in Kansas is just sort of spillover. HOTEL BARGAINS

Room Finders USA offers hotel accommodations at 50 percent off. Book online at www.roomsusa.com or call (800) 473-STAY. SUMMER CHOICES

Where would you like to go in the U.S. on your summer vacation? Here are the top choices of 1,500 travelers for 1997, as reported by the Travel Industry Association of America:

1. Florida: 34 percent

2. California: 28 percent

3. Hawaii: 17 percent

4. Nevada: 12 percent

and New York: 12 percent

6. Colorado: 9 percent

7. Arizona: 7 percent

and Texas: 7 percent

9. Washington, D.C.: 6 percent

and Alaska: 6 percent FORGET THE VISA

Tourist-needy Croatia has said entry visas are no longer needed by citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. That's too bad. The Croatia visa is the artistic highlight of my current passport. For info, call (888) GO-CROATIA. BREATHE EASIER

Responding to consumer demands, United Airlines and American Airlines said they would prohibit smoking on all flights beginning July 1. TWA began such a policy this month. Continental and Delta already have instituted a complete ban.

Their decisions continues a trend that began in 1989, when Congress banned smoking on all domestic flights. Since then, airlines have been instituting the policy on more and more international flights.

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