For anyone curious about my town's annual Pumpkin Fest, our public access station will be carrying live coverage of the event all day long, viewable online from here:

http://www.cheshiretv.org/stream.htm



It's a fun day, with tens of thousands of people coming to town, vintage cartoons at the downtown theater, and lots of good food. Our SATURDAY FRIGHT SPECIAL characters will be appearing in a storefront window at some point during the day to promote our ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES screening later in the week, and to engage in general silliness.

Thanks for the info Mark. I've actually gotten up to the Pumpkin Fest a couple times in the last four years. It is very impressive to see those giant walls of jack-o-lanterns all lit up! A great time, if a wee bit crowded at peak times.

I heard on the local radio news this morning that the organizers are trying out a new method of display for the pumpkins this year, in the form of a-frame racks, as opposed to the rows and rows of regular scaffolding. Should be interesting to see what it looks like.

The problem I've always found with the Pumpkin Fest is that it's at its most lovely at night when the lanterns are lit, but by that point it's also at its most crowded and claustrophobia-inducing. We usually go down in the morning before the crowds arrive in full force, walk around and watch the free cartoons, then retreat home and watch the final tally and fireworks on TV. Another option is also "community night" which happens the night before the regular fest, where the streets aren't blocked off but plenty of lanterns are already on site.

Anyone planning on attending this year?

I'm going to be doing an interview on the local AM station in the morning, then supervising an SFS public appearance to promote the Spooktacular, then co-hosting a live edition of our local access movie review show (CINEMANIACS), focussing on the worst horror films of all time. That should be interesting...

The Colonial will be running free cartoons all day as they always do, and I always love stopping in to watch the reel with a theater full of laughing kids and adults. A great way to warm up and take a load off during the bustling P-Day.

There are always rumblings in town that each year's event will be the last one (especially this year, as the economy has caused the city's usually-generous financial support of the event to shrink considerably), but I think trying to end it is like trying to stop a runaway train with a stack of tater tots.


Mark

keene sounds like a fun place.

I would love to experience the Pumpkin Fest again, but I don't think it will happen this year. If I was able to get up to Keene I'd probably want to try for the Spooktacular anyway--but unfortunately that's very unlikely too .