The 25th birthday bash of Port Elgin’s Pumpkinfest had just about everything.
A world record squash from Joel Jarvis of St. Thomas, weighing in at almost 1487 pounds (1486.6), beating the record by over 200 pounds.
A pumpkin which many thought would be a world record holder, only to weigh in seven pounds less than the eventual winner.
The winner was Jim Bryson of Orsmtown, Quebec, with a pumpkin weighing almost 1658 pounds (1567.6).
The pumpkin world record of 1810 pounds remains intact.
Finally, the pumpkin seed spitting championship going to visitor “Captain Jack Sparrow” look-a-like at 28-feet-10-inches.
After the dust settled, Pumpkinfest Event Coordinator Sally Hunt believes the attendance figures will rival those of last year, when 55 thousand attended.
Hunt says she’s pleased with the outcome, despite the cool weather and said the credit should go to the 200-plus volunteers who give up their weekend to make it all happen.
She says it was a great way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the event.
Doug Court is a founder of the event and he says when they started 25 years ago, they never believed the attendance figures would be as big as they are today.
Court says he remembers the first event, down at the beach at the Casino where they had to literally cut off part of one pumpkin because it wouldn’t fit in the doors to be weighed.
Oh, and it snowed that very first weekend of Pumpkinfest.
