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The weekend of October 21st was the HUGE Pumpkin Festival in Keene, New Hampshire. So like good New Englanders we decided to rummage the house for costumes, brave the crowds and go.

Wow, was this a crowded festival! It was worse than trying to herd cattle at a Texas ranch. However, despite the crowd topping 80,000 people, the town had a good system. They diverted traffic outside of the city into huge parking lots. Then they shuttled people to and from the festival in school buses. It was a chilly night, but with all those people, it didn’t feel too bad.

There was a large variety of food vendors selling delicacies ranging from soups, stews, hotdogs and burgers to maple cotton candy and pumpkin pie. There was also lots of coffees and hot chocolates to warm even the coldest of hands. I don’t know what it is, but on a cold night, nothing tastes as good as a hot chocolate and street food!

The festival organizers counted 24,682 carved pumpkins, which apparently did not even reach the record of 28,952 in 2003. But it was still magnificent. There were three huge pumpkin towers in addition to just rows and rows of carved jack o’lanterns. Some were funny, some had messages, and some were truly works of art.

At the end of the evening, they had a great fireworks display, featuring lots of orange examples. It was a great way to end a festive evening!

On the way back to the car, we got off at the wrong bus stop. After all the lights and people we had just left on main street, it felt very dark and alone. After what seemed like hours we spotted the friendly headlights of a school bus. The driver picked us up and dropped us right next to our car. Talk about service!

I would definitely recommend this festival to anyone wanting to experience a down-home, fall New England festival. And I commend the town of Keene for its hospitality and great organization!

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