Pumpkin Festival is called off

LACONIA — The New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival has been cancelled for the third year in a row, though organizers say they're not counting out the event for 2023.

The event, which had become a fall highlight for Laconia, was called off in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. This year's cancellation was not due to health reasons, but for lack of support from the local business community, said Karmen Gifford, president of the Greater Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the event.

"It takes more than $75,000 to put on as a cost to the chamber, and we're not seeing the support from sponsorships to cover that," said Gifford. The chamber also relies upon a small army of volunteers, largely provided by the local business community, which also isn't materializing.

The costs to run the Pumpkin Festival are largely due to the rental of equipment such as the pumpkin tower, the costs associated with closing the roads, generating electricity for all of the vendors, and insurance.

Gifford noted that the chamber's goal is to support and promote local businesses, which is why Laconia adopted the Pumpkin Festival in 2015. The event was started in Keene.

"When we first brought the event to downtown, it was an event to highlight an area that had a lot of vacant stores," Gifford said. Since 2015, the downtown area has seen a renaissance, including the reopening of the Colonial Theatre on Main Street. 

But those downtown businesses have been challenged lately, first by pandemic closures and now by staffing shortages. Gifford figures that the lack of support for the festival is because businesses are focusing on their own recovery, and a street festival might not be in their best interest right now.

Meanwhile, there are several other events planned or in the planning phase, Gifford said, such as a "Wicked Weirs" Halloween party at Weirs Beach.

"There's a lot of things happening," Gifford said, adding that she was "disappointed" that Pumpkin Fest won't be one of them this year.

Gifford said she is looking at the possibility of bringing the event back next year, perhaps with a different look than it had in 2019, the last year that tens of thousands of people, and tens of thousands of carved pumpkins, filled downtown in October.

"Maybe in 2023 it needs to be in The Weirs," Gifford said. "Right now it's all hands on deck, and we're not getting that engagement. That's ok, because they're focusing on their own businesses."