Halloween's Approach

Pumpkin Fest Expands Into Weirs Beach And Beyond

The annual fall celebration known as the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival is returning on Saturday, October 26, with more unique activities as it expands from downtown Laconia into Weirs Beach and beyond the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.

This year’s celebration will feature four pumpkin towers downtown, situated along Main Street and Veterans Square. Individuals, schools, community organizations, and businesses have been carving pumpkins to place on the towers for a display that lights up the night.

There is a growing number of associated activities, ranging from costume contests to live performances, craft shows, train and wagon rides, and dance parties.

Pumpkin Fest dates back to 1991 when it began as a harvest festival in Keene. Downtown merchants paid for the first festival as a way to revitalize the city. Founder Nancy Sporborg said, “The heart of the Pumpkin Festival lies in the pumpkins. The meaning of the Pumpkin Festival lies in everyone’s participation. The beauty of the Pumpkin Festival lies in what is created together. What better gift could there be than to show the world what a community can do?”

By 1994, the celebration had grown so large that a nonprofit organization, Center Stage, formed to take over the festival, winning eight world records in the ensuing years for the most lit jack-o’-lanterns in one place.

A new group, “Let it Shine, Inc,” earned nonprofit status on October 31, 2011, and assumed oversight of the festival — the same year a competing festival formed in Highwood IL, leading to HGTV’s “Pumpkin Wars” which featured the two rivals. The Keene festival won the contest in 2012, with 29,381 jack-o-lanterns — earning that amount in dollars from Discover Card. The prize money was earmarked for educational nonprofits. In 2013, Keene set a new world record with 30,581 lit jack-o-lanterns.

The “Keene Pumpkin Festival Riots” of 2014 left the organizers worried about security at future festivals. The riots actually had nothing to do with Pumpkin Fest; the Main Street activities went forward as planned. However, a few blocks away, students were holding parties that authorities broke up using pepper spray and tear gas.