Serendipity in Keene, NH

Almost by accident, we found ourselves in Keene, New Hampshire just in time for the annual Pumpkin Fest.  The setting is very different than in Half Moon Bay, which we associate with such things, and the outcome is different as well.  

But, before reporting on the festival we must let you know that even though there were signs for Romney and Santorium, and field workers for Ron Paul, the only presidential candidate with the guts to show up in Keene was none other than:








Yes, Fred Karger himself!  We were quite excited.

 
Now, back to the Pumpkin Fest:  In 1991 Keene had its first festival, and set a world's record by having 600 lit jack-o-lanterns.  The rest is history, with Keene setting the world's record many times and peaking at over 30,000 jack-o-lanterns.  Unfortunately, Boston eclipsed Keene a few years back, and then an upstart town in Illinois passed Keene as well.  So, this year the town fathers (and mothers) went all out to regain the title as the most pumpkinest city in the world.  

The competition aside, the Pumpkin Fest was great.  The whole thing definitely had the feeling of Punxsutawney, PA as portrayed in the movie Groundhog Day.

There was the delightful game of Pumpkin Bowling, which given the shape of the projectiles was anything but predictable in outcome.

With thousands of pumpkins and pumpkin artists, there were seemingly endless examples of inspiring creativity.

 

This being New Hampshire, even the pumpkins get into the presidential primary campaigns.

When the sun went down, the jack-o-lanterns were lit and the thousands of folks at the fest enjoyed the scene and the wide variety of entertainment from musical performers.

Finally, even the pumpkins were tired and it was time to call it quits.  When the dust settled, Keene had assembled and lit 16,186 hand-carved jack-o-lanterns, well short of the world record but highly impressive nonetheless.