Pumpkin Fest is back and spookier than ever

LACONIA — The New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival is back. For the first time in two years, the city's downtown will come to life to celebrate the fall season. According to Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce President Karmen Gifford, this year's festival will be spookier than previous years.

“There's been a lot of engagement from vendors and the local community, so I feel it's going to be an active festival of events, just with a different vibe,” Gifford said. “We always focus on Pumpkin Fest and pumpkins and always have it after Columbus Day ... having it on Halloween weekend is going to include a lot more costumes in our events.”

According to Gifford, Saturday is going to be chock-full of costume parties, food vendors, parades, and pumpkins. The day kicks off with the WOW Trail's annual Runaway Pumpkin 5k/10k at 9 a.m., followed by a children's parade at 1 p.m.

Both Defiant Records & Craft Beer and The CAKE Thetare will host costume parties, and once the sun goes down, the dead will walk the streets.

“We're doing a zombie walk after dark,” Gifford said. “There's street vendors coming in costume, too, so that will be cool. Also, every vendor that's part of the artisan craft show are in costume."

Although there isn't a tower this year, there will be lots of pumpkins scattered around Rotary Park outside the Belknap Mill. The Colonial Theatre will play family-friendly Halloween films Friday and Saturday. The library is also offering a variety of actives. NH Vintage Vinyl will offer a small discount to costumed customers.

“We do have a kid zone with a climbing wall, bungee jumping, basketball, and an obstacle course. That’s going to be adjacent to PumpCANALly, Canal Street,” Gifford said.

Canal Street businesses will also offer a variety of family-friendly activities.

Piedmont Print and Frame is offering instant prints and pictures for costumed kids.

“They'll be mounted to orange mattes and the kids get to decorate their picture frames,” said owner and operator John Bethell.

Ooo La La Creative Cakes is baking a staggering amount of cupcakes and other fall-themed treats.

“We'll have s'mores bars and cookies and we'll be handing out activity bags for the kiddos,” said Ooo La La's owner LaShunda “Chef” Allen, gesturing to a stack of paper pumpkins on her counter. “They can come create their own pumpkins, sign their name and write what they're grateful for.”

“As the new kid on the block, I'm grateful for the timing,” said Casey Gerken, owner of the new downtown location of Innisfree Bookshop. “We planned doing our grand opening in conjunction with the Pumpkin Festival. Someone else is throwing the party, we might as well join.”

Gifford expressed a high amount of optimism for the festival and hopes to see many businesses engage.

“There’s the festival and the downtown element and they all blend,” Gifford said. “We’ve encouraged downtown business to spill out onto the sidewalk, let people know that they're there. That’s what entrepreneurship is. They have the ability to spill out and showcase who they are.”

“I think that due to the diversity of shops in downtown, if they do something that is true to who they are as a business, that could bring things together very well,” Bethell said.

Getting to this point has been a rough road. The festival was initially called off after the chamber hadn't received enough support and interest from businesses and the community at large. After making the announcement, the community demanded the festival return, with some business owners saying they were never approached for support. Some concerns remained among downtown business owners regarding plans for the 2024 festival to move to the Weirs.

“I think downtown is a place where something like the Pumpkin Festival needs to happen,” Bethell said. “The Weirs is closed. Having the festival downtown is important.”

For more information about this year's Pumpkin Festival and a full schedule of events, visit nhpumpkinfestival.com.