Future in limbo, but no doubt about popularity
By Dave Eisenstadter
Sentinel Staff
Published: Sunday, October 17, 2010
Wait long enough in New York’s Times Square and watch everyone in the world pass by, they say.
In downtown Keene, the same wait should at least reveal all the world’s pumpkin enthusiasts.
The city celebrated it’s 20th Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, with police and fire officials estimating the attendance at 70,000.
And with festival organizer Center Stage Cheshire County announcing it won’t run the event anymore, its future is in limbo.
Center Stage Executive Director Suzanne L. Woodward said the turnout was excellent this year, particularly considering the weather.
“But we’re light on pumpkins,” she said.
There were 22,943 pumpkins that lined the downtown area Saturday, well short of the world record of 30,128, set by Boston in 2006.
But it was hard to find anyone disappointed.
Among the happiest was Nancy Sporborg, who gave a speech over the loudspeaker during the afternoon. The festival began as an idea of Sporborg’s 20 years ago, and it was she that convinced the Guinness World Record organization to include a new category of “most lit jack-o-lanterns in one place at one time.”
Since then, people have come from far and wide to attend, and Sporborg headed Center Stage Cheshire County for much of that time.
“We invited the world to our doorstep,” Sporborg said in her speech.
While this was Center Stage’s final festival, many made their first pumpkin pilgrimage to Keene this year.
Christopher and Suzanne Schmachtenberger of Fort Collins, Colo., saw a segment about the festival on Travel Channel, and brought their teenage children for the family’s first time.
“We think it’s a really great, fun thing, and we’re delighted we made the trip,” Suzanne said.
Sporborg said she is delighted people come from all over to attend the pumpkin festival and see Keene’s downtown, a source of pride for locals, and vastly improved from 20 years ago when the festival began.
Tearfully, Sporborg thanked the volunteers who make the event happen year after year.
Light, misting rain sprinkled down on the festival on and off throughout the day, but conditions stayed mostly fair.
Early festival attendees got a view of a double rainbow following the last of some early morning rain, which had continued from Friday night.
In the late morning, Keene High School Interact adviser Michael R. Chelstowski placed pumpkins on the display planks on Main Street with 10th grader Colby R. Chaput.
Chelstowski volunteers each year with other Interact members, and was impressed with how many had already arrived.
The crowds grew, forming lines for pumpkin pie, pulled pork, souvenirs, rides and activities, and even when it was time to leave.
Having waited 15 minutes in a line stretching two blocks to get to the shuttles back to the parking lot, the Tracy family from Manchester and Lebanon, Conn., reflected on the pumpkins they had seen.
Autumn Tracy, 9 years old, said her favorites were a pumpkin with a spider carved into it, and the large pumpkins on the tops of the towers.
They hope to return next year, if the festival continues.
While Center Stage Cheshire County will no longer run the festival, other organizations, including the Downtown Group and the Keene Chamber of Commerce, have expressed interested in the festival’s continued existence.
Whether or not the festival ends this year, with 20 festivals completed in Keene, few can challenge the city’s status as the Big Apple of pumpkins.
Dave Eisenstadter can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1432, or deisenstadter@keenesentinel.com
