Pumpkin Festival returns to rave reviews

LACONIA — Even if not by the glow of its infamous pumpkin tower, this year’s New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival set downtown aglow on Saturday.

The festival, scaled back because of fundraising challenges, nevertheless proved to be a lively rebound for an event that hasn’t been held since 2019. 

“Instead of pumpkins and world records, this year it was really about costumes and community,” said Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce President Karmen Gifford, who has organized the festival since 2016. “It was a wonderful event.”

“It was certainly different than past festivals,” said Mayor Andrew Hosmer. “But I thought it was just as good.” Hosmer praised Gifford’s time and effort. 

A temperate breeze wafted the smell of cider doughnuts and hot sandwiches as about 14,000 festival goers, according to Gifford, patronized an array of food trucks, browsed the temptations of local and regional craftspeople, basked in the marigold glow of jack-o-lantern creations by local students and connected with a slew of new and established downtown businesses.

Clad in the costumes of halloween — superheroes, witches and royals — and of a textbook New England autumn — boots, beanies and thick sweaters — droves of visitors and locals bustled through downtown under a bluebird sky. 

“It’s quintessential New England,” said Rob Massey of Bristol, who came to the festival with his wife, Joanne, and their friends, “from the backdrop of the trees and the leaves to the downtown atmosphere.” 

Like the Masseys, many of those visiting the city had never been to the festival before, or not since it moved to Laconia. They praised the quaint ambiance of downtown, the range of vendors and businesses and the attendance. 

Kristin Lockhee of Amherst, with her husband and children, were looking online for a fall activity to do for the weekend, and made the trek to Laconia because the festival seemed promising.

“There’s a lot going on,” said Lockhee, who had never been to the downtown area or a Pumpkin Festival before.

“It’s really great to see how many local businesses got involved.” 

The festival’s kids zone, complete with a climbing wall and bounce houses, was a hit with family attendees. 

Ben and Alyssa Lohmann of Croydon brought their young family to the Pumpkin Festival for the first time. For the kids, the bounce houses were hands-down their favorite part, while mom and dad raved about cider doughnuts from Pat’s.

Many locals said that, though they were impressed by the attendance and enjoyed the offerings, they missed the festival’s trademark pumpkin tower. 

“It’s definitely a great turnout,” said Angela Ash of Laconia, who has been to the event every year since it moved.

“But I’ve heard people say that it’s a pumpkin festival with hardly any pumpkins.”

The festival, founded in and for 24 years hosted by the city of Keene, has historically been aimed at breaking the world record of having the most jack-o-lanterns in one place. The festival was forced out of Keene and found a new home in Laconia after riots near the festival grounds erupted in 2014. 

In Laconia, the focal point of the festival has pivoted, while keeping many of the same traditions. Maintaining high popularity, even if not coming close to the world-record feats of Keene, the event had found a foothold in the city — until the pandemic forced it to take a two-year hiatus. 

This year, with funding shortfalls over the summer, Gifford felt she had no choice but to cancel the festival. An outcry prompted a reversal of that decision, but, short on time and resources, downsizing was the only way to pull it off. 

Even as the festival remains beloved by locals, it faces the challenge of reestablishing itself. 

Hosmer felt the vibrancy of this year’s event got that ball rolling.

“There’s a way to do it at a proper scale, but at a very high quality,” Hosmer said.

“I think that’s a huge step we took this weekend towards reestablishing what the event can become."

“I really want to see it span multiple days, I want to see the tower come back,” Gifford said. “There’s a lot to build on.”

“I also miss the evening lighting and the spectacle” of the tower, Hosmer said. “But it doesn’t have to be the biggest event” to be successful. Though the tower, under current economic circumstances, proved to be “prohibitively expensive” for organizers, Hosmer said, “that doesn’t mean it can’t come back.”

Gifford stressed that the capabilities of the event are dependent on the support it gets ahead of time. 

First, the tower itself costs $15,000. Gifford said it requires a minimum of 2,000 jack-o-lanterns carved by the community. It requires a large, flat open area and four hours of setup and strike down.

“When people say, ‘they didn’t get enough pumpkins this year,’” Gifford said, “It’s important to remember that ‘they’ is actually ‘us.’” 

Gifford has floated the idea of moving parts of the festival to different areas of the city, such as the Weirs. Hosmer, and several members of the city council, have been assertive about their desire for it to remain downtown. 

“People don’t realize how much arranging and accommodating and contract work goes into it,” Gifford said. Planning conversations are ones she wants to have with all businesses that the Chamber serves while ensuring those downtown have a voice. 

While downtown is very suited to a fall festival vibe, Gifford said, all that’s been decided for next year is a date. Pumpkin Fest will return to the Lakes Region Friday through Sunday, Oct. 13-15, 2023.

Even with its hurdles, Gifford was pleased with the festival’s outcome and the support it garnered. 

“We had more cleanup volunteers than we’ve ever had before.”