Our last art show of the season took us back to Boothbay
this weekend, this time to the Railway Village. It was a gorgeous weekend and a good show, but the most
interesting sidelight was our accidental discovery of the Pumpkin Fest.
We usually cut off through Damariscotta to get to Boothbay,
since it skips a portion of usually congested Route 1. Damariscotta is one of those coastal
towns that’s pretty enough to enjoy and not so touristy as to be overwhelmed by
visitors – most of the time.
Driving through on Friday afternoon, we saw that most of the businesses
had giant – really giant – pumpkins stationed outside their front doors, some
of the pumpkins in the process of being decorated. By Saturday morning, a lot of the artists had finished their
work and we stopped early to take some pictures and stroll down the main
street. The variety and
imagination were fantastic. They ranged from the scenic
to the humorous
to the funky and punky
and just plain fishy
But what I wondered was – who was providing all these
monster pumpkins? These beauties
are a lot bigger than anything you’ve ever seen at a roadside stand. Well, turns out a local
greenhouse with a couple of pumpkin fanatic owners supplies free giant pumpkin
seedlings in the spring and amateur gardeners near and far try their hand at
growing the maximum pumpkin.
For the Pumpkinfest, there’s a Weigh-In and prizes, and
a chance to donate your giant veggie to become one of the town’s pumpkin works
of art.
Who knew?
There’s a whole art and science to the raising of giant
pumpkins, and I think that if I remember in time next year, I may give it a
try. Apparently, lots of
folks do this.
Still haven’t figured out how you get it into the car,
though.
