Good Grief, It's a Great Pumpkin Festival, Oct. 25 in Keene, NH!

Article by Eric H., at VisitingNewEngland.com

Photo, Courtesy of Center Stage, Keene, NH

One of New England's most colorful events, the Pumpkin Festival in Downtown Keene, NH, will be held this year on Oct. 25, starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 9 p.m.

With its modest beginnings of 600 pumpkins on display during its 1991 inception, the Keene Pumpkin Festival has grown significantly through the years. Coming close several times to setting the world record for the number of Jack-O-Lanterns lit in one place at one time, visitors, for example, saw 28,952 pumpkins in 2003 and 25,644 pumpkins in 2007, resulting in people surely saying, "Orange you glad we came here?"

This year's festival will include food and craft vendors, a noon parade, entertainment, seed spitting and pie eating contests, and fireworks.

Having the festival in Keene makes the experience all that much better. The Currier and Ives look of the downtown creates everything you would look for in a pretty New England downtown -- a wide tree-lined street, plenty of locally-owned shops and restaurants, the old-fashioned Colonial Theater for live entertainment and film, a wonderful town common with gazebo, and the classic, academic look of Keene State College. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Keene as one of America's "Dozen Distinctive Destinations." Add many historic Colonial homes, many clean parks for the kids to play, great fall foliage within the Monadnock Region, hiking at nearby Mt Monadnock and you have a true fall vacation destination.

For more information, e-mail pumpkinfestival@centerstagenh.com, or call (603) 358-5344.