This weekend we joined our son and thousands of people in Keene, New Hampshire, for their 21st annual Pumpkin Festival. It was our first time at the festival and we came bearing our own artfully hand-carved pumpkins. This year brother Drew Scott of HGTV’s “Property Brothers” and camera crews were in attendance to spur on friendly “Pumpkin Wars” with the town of Highwood, Illinois where Jonathan Scott stirred up those residents and visitors. Each community competed to see which town could set a new Guinness world record for the most lit pumpkins. The official pumpkin count from Keene is publicized at 29,381, falling short of the 32,000 goal…. but, hey, the day was awesome and a success for Keene!
Can you visualize what 29,381 glowing jack-o-lanterns lining streets, curbs, grass, in trees, in store windows and thousands of festival-goers look like in a quaint New England downtown? Add live music, costumes, the aroma of hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork, deep-fried pickles, cotton candy, laughter, excited children, a ferris wheel, a climbing wall, crafts, pumpkin bowling, and you’re going to have a party.
On the square at the end of Main Street was the impressive Tower of Pumpkins that reached to the sky and atop the tower sat the Pumpkin King who presided over his 29,381 pumpkin subjects and thousands of visitors. Who ever knew pumpkins could be this much fun?!
I’ve never seen such cute pumpkins. What a fun occasion!
LikeLike
Wow! What a party!
LikeLike
Sounds like another fun day in New Hamphire. I love the property brothers. Drew is my favorite (because of his name-haha). Doug’s pumpkin was pretty good and scary!
LikeLike
I see your four. They are all pretty good. Is one a chicken?
LikeLike
Yes, one was a chicken or whatever creature you want to call it. I drilled lots of holes and stuck battery-powered white lights through the holes. Fun!
LikeLike
Looks like a perfect day in Keene ~~ sun shining, fall colors, and happy faces! Which are your four?
LikeLike
One of mine was a pumpkin eating a pumpkin. I saw at least 3 others like that. Our son always does a variation of the big-toothed pumpkin. I loved his. mister gardener’s pumpkin? It was traditional but cute. He left off the nose!
LikeLike
What a terrific and fun way to welcome in the season!
LikeLike
I see this is going to be on HGTV on the 31st. Can’t wait.
LikeLike
Generally, I avoid mob scenes like this but we actually had fun. We figured we walked almost 6 miles from the car, up and down all the streets, and back to the car. That was the best part for me.
LikeLike
Hope I see you and your pumpkins on TV. I will be looking.
LikeLike
Me too! I think I wore an orange sweater. Oh no…. you’ll never find me amongst the pumpkins!
LikeLike