Windsor Pumpkin Festival – October 5, 1996
– NEWS RELEASE –
GIANT PUMPKIN GROWERS SET FOR 12TH ANNUAL WINDSOR PUMPKIN FESTIVAL
WINDSOR – A Giant pumpkin growers from the Atlantic Provinces, and
perhaps a few from outside the region, will be trucking their prize specimens
to Windsor’s Exhibition Park on Saturday, Oct. 5, for the 12th annual Windsor
Pumpkin Festival.
The Windsor site, sponsored by Atlantic Pumpkin Growers’ Association, will
be one of 19 locations in Canada and the United States for the
Great Pumpkin Commonwealth weighoff, which is offering
a top prize of $3,000 for the heaviest pumpkin, and $500 for the heaviest
squash.
Those prizes are in addition to the $1,000 for the heaviest pumpkin and $500
for the heaviest squash to be awarded to Windsor competitors.
Windsor will be the only Nova Scotia weighoff site for giant pumpkins, this
fall, because the Atlantic Winter Fair has decided not to hold a separate
competition. Instead, the Winter Fair will offer the Windsor champions cash
awards to display their prize winners at the Halifax fair site on the two
following weekends.
Danny Dill, Windsor’s site co-ordinator, says that Nova Scotia businesses
have again pledged their support to the Festival, making it possible to award
prizes for the top 10 pumpkins and squash; the three heaviest watermelons; and
the three heaviest field pumpkins.
The grand champion in the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth could also be worth $10
per pound, and a trip to California for its grower, compliments of The Nut Tree
Complex in that state. The champion pumpkin will be showcased as the
centrepiece for Nut Tree’s fall festival.
Events at the Windsor Pumpkin Festival start at 8 a.m., when registration
opens for pumpkin entries, and Windsor and District Lions Club holds its annual
pancake and sausage breakfast.
Giant pumpkins will be weighed at 10 a.m., and awards will be presented at 2
p.m. Stable Country will entertain before and after the weighoff, which will be
held in Exhibition Arena.
Windsor’s town crier, Lloyd Smith, will host an International Town Criers
Gathering at 1:30 p.m.
The festival will hold contests to guess the weight of a giant pumpkin; to
guess the number of seeds in a giant pumpkin; and to select the best pumpkin
dessert.
Hants West Ground Search and Rescue will hold a Chinese auction in the
O’Brien Building at 1 p.m.
Maritime pumpkin growers were challenged by a wet July, followed by visits
by a couple of hurricanes in August and September, as they nursed their prize
specimens.
But competitors in other regions faced even more difficult conditions, so
competition could be fierce for this year’s pumpkin crown.
While Maritime growers have held world championships for a number of years,
the push is on to beat the record of 990 pounds set by Ontario grower Herman
Bax in 1994.
In addition to Windsor, Great Pumpkin Commonwealth weighoffs will be held
this year in Ottawa and Rockton, Ont.; Roland, Man.; Smokey Lake, Alta.;
Topsfield, Mass.; Amagansett and Oswego, N.Y.; Canfield, Ohio; Altoona, Pa.;
Monroe and St. John’s, Mich.; Lockport, Ill.; Oconomowoc, Wis.; Anamosa, Iowa;
Republic, Mo.; Carnation, Wash.; and Nut Tree and Santa Barbara, Calif.
Contact: Danny Dill, Windsor, N.S. 902-798-2728 or 902-798-1082
Home of Dill’s Atlantic Giant™ Pumpkin
Atlantic Pumpkin Growers’ Association
Danny Dill
PO Box 901
Windsor NS B0N 2T0
902-798-2728 or 902-798-1082
Fax 902-798-0842
webmaster:
Logo courtesy of Al Kingsbury
Last Updated: Fri Sep 27 10:30:00PM CST 1996