At the Keene Pumpkin Festival, the food's all good
Vendors have festival treats down to a science
by Sarah Trefethen
Sentinel Staff
Published: Friday, October 15, 2010
Rye Capron is not a professional chef.
Nonetheless, a recent evening saw her leaning through a nutmeg- and ginger-scented cloud of white pudding mix to scrape bright orange globs of canned pumpkin into an industrial food mixer. She spilled only a little.
Jason Smart, the owner of Ye Goodie Shoppe on Main Street, watched from a just few feet away in the kitchen at the back of his store.
“This is going to take a while,” he said quietly.
Behind them, on a silver table surrounded by uncut fudge and gleaming copper double boilers, four more cases of canned pumpkin were lined up, open and ready to go.
Capron is the president of the parents’ association at the Montessori Schoolhouse, one of 46 area nonprofit groups whose employees and volunteers are busy preparing creative snacks to sell at the Pumpkin Festival on Saturday.
As the pumpkin pudding came together Wednesday night, Smart poured it into 5-gallon buckets that he will refrigerate for the group until Saturday. Then, it will be served in waffle cones, topped with whipped cream and toffee crunch.
“We’re the only ones who do pumpkin pie in a cone,” said Capron, a computer programmer. “Last year people came looking for us.”
Groups interested in selling food at the festival submit a menu and application fee to organizers, and booths are assigned on a first come, first served basis, according to Suzanne Woodward, executive director of festival organizer Center Stage Cheshire County.
She said the application process is straightforward and geared toward local nonprofit groups.
“Most of them have been doing this for years, so it’s old hat to them,” she said.
Capron said the Montessori school submitted its application six months ago. Last year the school made $2,700. It used the money to pay for dance teachers to add movement to the school’s classroom activities and fund scholarships for the school.
“Anything above and beyond operating expenses, the board can vote to use fundraising,” she said.
This year, she said, a lot of the ingredients for the cones have been donated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, and she hopes the profit will be even greater.
In addition to the pie in a cone, the Montessori Schoolhouse parents have been making pumpkin whoopie pies at home, and they’re buying 30 gallons of butternut squash soup from Luca’s Mediterranean Cafe.
With months of work and cases of pumpkin invested in Saturday’s festival, the booth’s organizers say they’re at least a little nervous.
“It could be pouring rain and nobody will come out and buy our stuff,” said parent volunteer Kim Ioannou.
They will also have competition.
Other food options at Saturday’s festival will include hot dogs and chili from the American Red Cross and fried pickles from the Winchester Girl Scouts. In previous years, Woodward said, the festival’s most popular snack has been the Hinsdale Fire Department’s french fries.
The year-old local chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America will be making its first appearance, said representative John Johnson, serving chicken gumbo and minestrone soup.
Johnson said the proceeds will go to help Cheshire County veterans in need, and he hopes the event will also attract more veterans to join the group.
Walpole Village School teacher Allison M. Cook said the money her school raises at the festival each year goes toward general operating expenses.
In previous years the school’s booth offered chili and hot dogs, but this year’s menu will feature grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, with chocolate-covered pretzels and cookies for dessert.
“We wanted to try something different this year,” Cook said.
The women’s vocal group Animaterra, on the other hand, will be sticking with what’s worked in the past, said the group’s public relations officer, Andi T. Johnson. Every member of the group, she said, is making apple turnovers.
Center Stage has said this year will be the last year it puts on the festival, and without the money from the festival, Johnson worries the group will lose a major source of revenue.
Other local groups have expressed interest in taking over the festival, but the future of the event is still uncertain.
“If the Pumpkin Festival goes away it’s going to be a huge loss, not just for us but for every nonprofit in Keene,” Johnson said.
