Pumpkin Fest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pumpkin Festival (a.k.a. Pumpkin Fest) is a yearly celebration held in Keene, New Hampshire, USA at Halloween. Each year, Keene residents and other citizens from around the area attempt to amass the largest number of lit jack-o'-lanterns in one place, trying to meet or beat the world record (which they held for many years).
The Pumpkin Fest previously held the record (as recognized by the Guinness World Records) of 28,952 [1] set at this celebration on October 25, 2003, but this was broken when Boston, Massachusetts collected 30,128 on October 21, 2006. [2] The organizers attempt yearly to beat this record by encouraging businesses and individuals to create and donate jack-o'-lanterns which are displayed on many enormous banks of shelves and all available surfaces around the center of town.
The festivities also include fireworks, music, and food, and draw in people from all over New Hampshire and adjoining states.
Over 80,000 people attend this event in Keene which has a population of nearly 23,000. People do not come from just the surrounding states, but all over the country and sometimes all over the world.
The 2006 festival was held on October 21st and boasted over 24,000 lit pumpkins.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Guinness World Records
- Keene Pumpkin Festival
- History of the Pumpkin Festival
- Pumpkin Festival Photo Galleries
[edit] References
- ^ Guinness World Records entry for jack-o'-lanterns (Note: as of October 22, 2006, this link was broken and all reasonable searches failed to find it.)
- ^ Michael Levenson and Kathy McCabe, October 22, 2006 Boston Globe, page B6
