Day Trip: Keene Pumpkin Festival 2013

October 2013

We drove north to Keene, New Hampshire for the annual Keene Pumpkin Festival. After the long drive we arrived to the central parking lot, and took the shuttle bus over to the actual event. We wandered through the crowds and down the many aisles of carved pumpkins.

For the first time [or at least since I’ve been attending] there was a cardboard “wall” asking “Whats the best part of the pumpkin festival”? Lots of people seemed to have ignored the question [either on purpose or perhaps can’t read] and wrote items not related to the pumpkin festival. It was fun to see either way that some cardboard ended up with another life before it went off to be recycled.

Took a few more photos of some pumpkins that really caught my attention and stood out amongst the rest. There’s always so many good ones that it can be difficult to choose which to display here. I was feeling a bit nerdy today so there we go, star wars storm trooper pumpkin it is.

Before we called it a night, we visited the towers at the end of main street. It’s always amazing to see so many pumpkins and it feels magical.

Of all the years that I have been, I will remember the festivals most of all from 2013 and 2008.

2008 because it was my first P-fest, and 2013 because I think it will be my last. The festival holds nostalgia for me, and I would visit others but sadly immature students in the Keene area have ruined this locations event for me.

In 2013 The punks/teens were acting inappropriately, destroying pumpkins and property, and exhibiting a devil-may-care attitude. Then in 2014, [ luckily was out-of-town] it was the 24th annual festival which was brought to a halt due to the chaos of riots.

Day Trip – Keene New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival 2012

Keene Pumpkin Festival 2012

Last Saturday marked the 22nd annual Pumpkin Festival in Keene New Hampshire. This was the 5th one I have attend, and is something I look forward to each year. The only reason I have not been to more is that I have only been living in New England exactly all of these few years. On the way we stopped for snacks at a Starbucks. Sticking with the pumpkin theme for the day, we grabbed for Pumpkin Spice Lattes and brownies. Yum!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins everywhere.

It’s a pretty magical sight to behold all the jack-o-lanters. This year the total was 29,381 pumpkins! It’s really quite amazing to see so many pumpkins lit up in one place.  The festival has even set 8 Guinness book of world records to date. The drive takes 2 hours each way,  from where I stay. Upon our arrival [since the event has grown so much] we decided to park in one of the shuttle lots on the “green” route.

More pumpkin goodness

There were clean portable toilets in the shuttle lots which come in handy after sitting in a car for a few hours. We hopped on a shuttle bus [it was a school bus being used as a shuttle bus] and after a 5-10 drive we were on site in downtown Keene for the festival. Everyone really gets into the festival some little kids dress in costumes and even the shuttle drivers are dressed up.

Downtown Keene during the pumpkin festival

Rows upon rows upon rows of pumpkins greeted us with their smiling faces,  unique patterns and fanciful designs. The festival did not disappoint. While they had bands performing and a Ferris Wheel we did not partake in those. There is also a food court which we opted not to stop by either, as we wanted to dedicate our time to pumpkin peeping.

Pumpkin Festival

As we wandered the festival a flash mob dressed in random Halloween costumes went by. It was hard to hear what song they were playing on their boom box, and every time they came by a mob of people rushed over to see them so I never could get a good photo.

Fancy Pumpkin

There are a few designs and themes I see each year, but mainly lots of new intricately carved or uniquely designed ones capture my attention. I mean how often do you see Lord Ganesh on a pumpkin or even the Aum [OM] symbol? There were even pumpkins decorated as hot air balloons hanging from the tress. Some decorate their pumpkins into food such as hamburgers bun and all.

Ganesh & Aum

One thing that was new was that Saturday’s festival was being featured in an HGTV ‘‘Property Brothers’’ cable television special, ‘‘Pumpkin Wars,’’ to be broadcast on Halloween. Keen this year was competing against Highwood, Ill., for the record.

Drew Scott [tall guy in the gazebo, on the far left] from HGTV property Brothers show.

I was pleased the weather cooperated with us and did not rain or become too chilly.