Pumpkin Festival 2018

This past October 29th, children, their pumpkin creations, and their families returned to
downtown Keene to celebrate the fall, our community and the return of the Keene Pumpkin
Festival. I have never, since I founded the Festival in 1991, felt such community spirit. In spite
of the cold drizzle, children, dressed up in Halloween costumes with colorful umbrellas
overhead, walked around Central Square which was bedecked with thousands of carved
pumpkins, and the energy was palpable. The families were there because they remembered the
Keene Pumpkin Festival experience and they wanted to have it again, even in the rain. It was
heartwarming. It was exhilarating. It was all I could have hoped for.

Last year we kept the Festival small, a request from our City, so we only invited Keene school
children to participate by carving pumpkins. is year we plan to reach out to more local schools
inviting them to help us ll Central Square with their carved orange masterpieces. We are taking
the opportunity that carving a pumpkin naturally presents and enlisting the art departments in
the schools to encourage the children to see how they can turn their jack-o’-lanterns into works
of art.

We need the community’s support to bring this free community tradition back to downtown
Keene in 2018. e event is planned for Sunday, October 28. ere will be games for the
children, music, a few food vendors, and, of course, the stars of the show, the pumpkins.
Help us bring the magic, community spirit and thousands of ickering orange gourds back to
downtown Keene by making a contribution to the Festival or volunteering to help make it
happen. Keene Pumpkin Festival’s home is in downtown Keene. Help us keep the Festival’s
light shining.

To make a contribution or volunteer, please go to pumpkinfestival.org.

With gratitude,
Nancy Sporborg
On behalf of Let it Shine and everyone who
loves kids, smiles and pumpkins

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