Filed under: There and Back Again
During the planning bits of this New England blogger meet-up / vacation NPW mentioned the Pumpkin Festival in Keene, NH. As soon as I heard the words “pumpkin” and “festival” uttered in consecutive order I knew I was sold. Pumpkin Festival? Really? Absolutely!
In order to actually get to Keene, a small town of about 2,200 people, one must drive nearly 2 hours from Boston through a ton of gorgeous leafery. Now, I realize all your East Coast people, or Pacific North West people, or Southern people, seem to think that thousands of trees lining your freeway corridors is normal and not terribly impressive. It’s not normal and it is impressive! I was floored by the sheer number of trees in various stages of red or orange or yellow. Absolutely gorgeous.
At any rate, when we arrived, and parked, and rode the (old, yellow, school) bus from the parking lot into town, and finally got to the actual pumpkin festival I was expecting a couple of hundred jack-o-lanterns.
People…I was soooo wrong. Dead wrong. There were upwards of 30,000 pumpkins lining both sides of the sidewalk, the street, the median, the buildings, the curb. There were carved pumpkins everywhere for at least a mile along the drag of Main Street closed off for the event. Thirty-thousand Pumpkins! That’s a lot of pumpkins!
In addition to the row upon row of pumpkins, there were two giant (GIANT!) scaffolding/pyramid contraptions holding scores more.
Do you see the kind of orangey goodness we’re talking about here? THOUSANDS of jack-o-lanters, all carved differently, and as it got darker they began to glow. NPW, OPH, Janssen (and Bart) and I wandered around looking at the pumpkins, trying to decide on a little spot for some dinner…or some fried dough at the very least.
I wanderd around taking pictures of piles of glowy pumpkins, and the more I wandered the more I really wanted to have a pumpkin festival of my own. Imagine dozens of pumpkins to be carved, pumpkin pie, apple cider, gingersnaps, fried dough if I could figure it out….all with a side of jack-o-lantern. This will be epic, I tell you!
This was such a delightful evening, wandering around with My Girls, chatting about this and that, deciding which snack was better…this was just one of those classic New England Fall type of events and, except for the 7 hour flight and the 2 hour drive, I would totally go back in a minute.
Can you find the “ghosts” in the above pic? Hmmmm? Anyone?
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Looks awesome. We’ve enjoyed the Circleville Pumpkin Festival in Ohio almost every year since we arrived for school. Nothing like a twenty-foot wide pumpkin pie. Glad you got to experience this.
Comment by Heather W 2009 October 22 @ 5:58 amUh, COOLEST thing I have ever seen!!! Being here in Japan during pumpkin season has me craving the “orangey goodness” you talk about. Pumpkins in Japan are all green and pracically impossible to carve. Love the pics girlie!
Comment by vanessa 2009 October 22 @ 7:12 amAwesome! I went to a pumpkin festival in Rhode Island once, and never saw anything like it again. That’s so cool!
Comment by Noelle 2009 October 22 @ 7:16 amWow. Just wow.
Comment by Dawn 2009 October 22 @ 7:53 ami just thought of this……if you are by chance headed over this way, you are welcome to stop by….but my guess is you’re sticking with boston area. We were there just a couple weeks ago with Paul’s bro…Steve. He just got back from his mission!
Comment by Tenille 2009 October 22 @ 8:11 amOh, how pretty!
Comment by Stacy 2009 October 22 @ 8:54 amEver since I saw that pumpkin scaffold in an article a couple of weeks ago, I’ve coveted a visit. So jealous.
Comment by Naomi 2009 October 22 @ 9:42 amThis festival looks awesome, and you guys are adorable! Also I agree that the New England fall foliage is spectacular. But I have been surprised and pleased to discover that Colorado also has lovely fall foliage. In fact we have aspens turning yellow in our very own back yard right now.
Comment by Jess 2009 October 22 @ 9:57 amI thought for a second it was just a spot on my laptop but then I totally saw the ghost, oh wait i need to clean the screen.
Comment by Sarakastic 2009 October 22 @ 9:59 amI’m jealous of your fall. Yes, we have trees lining the streets but they never turn anything but green and brown. And our own orangey pumpkins get mushy long before Halloween because of our warm weather. Enjoy your fall and your coats!
Comment by Liz Merrell 2009 October 22 @ 10:02 amYou also forgot to mention that you were visiting New England at the HEIGHT of the fall leaves season. People travel from around the country just to see those magical leaves. So, while it is nice to have trees lining the highway, trees in an array of magical colors is something darn special – even for New Englanders!
Comment by SoMi's Nilsa 2009 October 22 @ 11:38 amwow, 30,000 pumpkins? that is awesome. looks like a lot fun.
Comment by katelin 2009 October 22 @ 4:57 pmWow. Those are some amazing pumpkins! I’m so jealous.
Comment by Erin 2009 October 22 @ 7:37 pmJust stumbled across your blog for the first time and I LOVE it! You are so hilarious!
This pumpkin festival looks amazing – wish I lived closer!
Comment by Carrie 2009 October 22 @ 8:36 pmI love reading all your tales about your recent visit. It’s like I get to see New England in a whole different light. Come back again SOON!
Comment by Kelli 2009 October 28 @ 12:34 pmI am so jealous! I would love to see all those pumpkins and I would have been in Halloween heaven! How come I couldn’t come along???? You know Halloween has a special place in my heart! I remember the parties and getting to scare you just a little at the end. GOOD TIMES! Love you.
Comment by Becky 2009 October 29 @ 11:02 am