Families come out to Pumpkin Day in Fergus for a ‘gourd’ time

Hundreds of families came out to the Wellington County Museum and Archives in Fergus to welcome the fall harvest season with pumpkin-themed activities.

The annual Pumpkin Day celebration brought people from all over the county on Saturday, where they joined in on the free activities, including a pumpkin carving competition, eating pumpkin flavoured ice cream, petting animals at a reptile farm and listening to live music by Paul Whittaker and his band.

Sensational Elora is a non-profit organization that focuses on tackling local food insecurity with year-round family events focused on the five senses. They’ve been having the Pumpkin Day festival for almost 20-years, allowing kids and families to get messy by carving their own jack-o-lanterns, while also having the option to donate cash or food to the Centre Wellington Food Bank.

Patricia Brown is the event organizer for Pumpkin Day and held the reins for the last 12-years of the event’s two-decade-long run. She said it used to be smaller and held in a different location.

“We started out in Bissell Park,” Brown said, referring to the park in Elora. “I think we outgrew the space, so I took it to the museum. The museum welcomed us with open arms.”

The celebration saw around 810 people this year.

Brown said it would be her last year organizing the event but said it’s important Sensational Elora recruits a full-time organizer with fresh eyes to take over.

“I just want people who can’t afford to do things, have something to do,” she said. “And not even just affording to do things. It’s so important to meet your neighbor, meet your community… because I see so many people out here today with their friends and meeting new people and I think it’s great.”

“We were just looking for a fun party for the weekend for my kids and this looked like a really good opportunity to come out and have some fun,” said Bethany Klassen, who brought her three daughters. “We carved a pumpkin, we’re waiting in line for the face painting, we went to the reptile zoo, that was really fun. My girls got to hold two lizards and snakes.”

Klassis said attending these events as a family makes it memorable.

“I think it’s a good time to bond with your children and to make good memories for the future,” she said.

Kate Wright, who brought her son Sam and daughter Maggie, said free events like Pumpkin Day helps locally as well.

“I think it’s an amazing thing for the community if the community is hosting something like this,” said Wright with a smile. “If people don’t show up, they’ll stop doing it. So, it’s wonderful and we ended up having no rain this afternoon. So, I’m really grateful to the organizers for making this available to us.”