Wreck Beach's Watermelon announces Vancouver mayoral run in 2023

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      The woman known to nude sunbathers, pot smokers, and licorice fiends as Watermelon is retiring from the business of selling the fruit that made her a household name in Vancouver.

      Mary Jean Dunsdon will sell her last watermelon at Wreck Beach on September 8.

      And she's plotting to enter municipal politics.

      "I plan to run for Mayor of Vancouver in 2023," Watermelon said in a news release.

      (With the switch to four-year terms for local politicians, there actually won't be a civic election that year. The closest elections will be in 2022 and 2026.)

      Watermelon, who has appeared on the cover of the Georgia Straight and High Times, also plans to keep going with her marijuana-cooking web series, Baking a Fool of Myself, and to write a cookbook and a memoir.

      She owns The Licorice Parlour, a candy shop in East Van.

      Pieta Woolley's Straight cover story on July 30, 2008, notes that Watermelon has hung around at Wreck since she was 19, though she was "temporarily banned by the courts for allegedly selling THC–laced cookies".

      "It's been a glorious 22 years," Watermelon stated. "I loved that beach from the moment I laid bum cheeks on it.  Wreck Beach has allowed me to pursue happiness and independence in a way no one thought possible. However, it is time for me to pass the baton and begin a new chapter." 

      Comments

      3 Comments

      joe obi

      Aug 18, 2015 at 2:15pm

      Mary Jean is babe-o-liscious

      Beerbelly

      Aug 19, 2015 at 6:35am

      This should be interesting.

      @joe obi

      Aug 19, 2015 at 1:32pm

      Possibly, but I've had her cookies on multiple occasions and they're nothing to write home about. They are "tourist cookies," possibly more homeopathic than medicinal.