1999: 50,000 people and 16,349 jack-o'-lanterns crowd downtown Keene

By JENNIFER JORDAN for SentinelSource

The pumpkins and their carvers came from far and wide -- a farm in Pennsylvania, a pumpkin patch in Hamburg, Germany, a fruit stand in Massachusetts.

They came despite a rainy, chilly morning that might have kept less-dedicated gourd lovers away, and were rewarded for their enthusiasm by a crisp autumn afternoon.

But in the end, the number of pumpkins couldn't outshine last year's.

This year's total of 16,349 was 1,344 pumpkins short of last year's impressive 17,693. But as co-producer Cindy Rodenhauser told the crowds at about 8:25 p.m., "We didn't break our world record, but we still hold the world record."

Visitors to the ninth annual Keene Pumpkin Festival seemed to enjoy themselves as much as, if not more than, they did in 1998, however.

The festival might have outdone itself in another category --the number of attendees. Police estimated the crowds at about 50,000, about 10,000 more than last year's. Keene Police Sgt.t Ed Gross said the festival's expansion down Main Street and onto West Street, Gilbo Avenue and Railroad Square helped keep the flow of foot traffic moving.

"I was here last year and there's definitely more people here this year," Gross said. "It's the same density of people, but in a larger area."

The festival picked up steam throughout the day, with Main Street staying roomy enough for strollers until the late afternoon. By the time 6 o'clock arrived and jack-o'-lanterns were lit downtown, massive crowds had arrived.

"The number (of pumpkins) doesn't disappoint me," said Liesl Hasenfuss of Concord. Hasenfuss has come to previous pumpkin festivals and said the numbers were "inconsequential" to her. "It's a nice event," she said. "It's great to come out and see all the pumpkins and all the people and eat the food on a nice fall night."

A group of students walking down West Street after the fireworks display agreed.

"Actually, to tell you the truth, 16,000 pumpkins is a pretty good number," said Matt Bartley, 13, of Keene. "It is still a lot of pumpkins," said 10-year-old Tyler Clark of Troy.

But still, after all the energy and sights and sounds of the day, hearing that all the orange glowing squash piled on milk creates and weighing down three towers wasn't the highest number of pumpkins ever assembled in the world -- it was a bit of a downer.

Darcy Wilson, 14, of Troy, said she wished more people had participated this year, as she carried her jack-o'-lantern down the street.

More than 5,000 pumpkins were donated to local schoolchildren, thanks to Kingsbury Corp., and were brought downtown on Friday. The rest were brought Saturday, and registered at official check-in points to be counted by Lehman & Wilkinson, CPAs for the Guinness Book of World Records.

Perhaps the festival has reached the saturation point in terms of pumpkins, but it hasn't exhausted the excitement of visitors.

"I think this is better than last year," said Cindy Nikiforakis of Swanzey, who comes every year with her three children. "It doesn't feel as crowded, it wasn't that bad to park. Spreading out was a good idea."

Keene High School student Emily Silva, 14, volunteered with a group of her friends to help light thousands of pumpkins up and down Main Street. By 4:30 p.m. she'd lit 100 and had a hundred more to go. Emily was one of an estimated 300 volunteers who pitched in to create the magic of the festival, said Nancy Sporborg, who founded the festival nine years ago and serves as executive director of Center Stage Cheshire County, which produces the event.

"What makes the pumpkin festival special, what makes it magic, is all of you," Sporborg told the crowd before the results were announced. "Every single pumpkin has meaning; it's amazing."

Police credited the expansion, bus shuttles to carry visitors to and from company parking lots, and an improved public-announcement system for a more organized operation. "We were a little caught off guard last year with the massive amounts of people," said officer Gary St. Pierre. "This year, in anticipation of the large numbers, we beefed up our manpower."

About 60 security people from the Monadnock Region and N.H. State Police, including police on horseback, milled through the crowd. Additional medical workers also roamed down Main Street, in the case of any emergency.

The extra attention seemed to help. Last year, about 46 children were temporarily separated from their parents before reuniting with them. As of 5 p.m. Saturday night, only one child had temporarily misplaced his parent, and while the numbers increased as the night went on, numbers were not expected to reach as high as last years.

There was only one arrest during the festival, according to police, and that was for carrying an open container of alcohol.

Some festival-goers had another kind of headache to contend with: towed cars. Police announced that illegally parked cars on Marlborough Street and Optical Avenue would be towed, and a handful of drivers were at the police station at 9 p.m. to try to recover their vehicles.

For most, though, the festival cast its usual spell over visitors of all ages. Baby lions and 2-foot-tall Zorros stood in awe in front of a three-tiered pumpkin creation that looked like a Mayan temple god, studying the intricate carvings and detail. A pumpkin with a cucumber nose, potato ears and sprouts for hair sat near an elaborate pumpkin turkey, as mesmerized viewers nibbled blue cotton candy or munched crisp apple doughnuts.

"That's the nicest thing about this event," said Doug Mealy, who runs Interact, a student organization that helped harvest more than 5,000 pumpkins for area schoolchildren from Newmont Farms in Vermont. "A kid with little artistic ability is as important as Rembrandt in terms of carvings. Every one is important."