Pumpkin Show! (with pictures)

In case you're not familiar with this phenomenon (though I imagine most people are), in certain parts of the country, every town has some seasonal festival related to some local agricultural product. So you have the Tomato Festival or the Pork Festival or the Dandelion Festival or whatever. I have a feeling that after a while they became pretty arbitrary:

Small town Mayor, circa 1890: We need a festival!
Advisor: Really? What for?
Mayor: Look, Shadyfield makes a mint every year with that blasted Rutabaga Festival. We need something.
Advisor: But we don't grow anything here.
Mayor: Sure we do. Don't we? There must be something out there!
Advisor: Even if there is, all the good stuff's already taken. I mean, we don't even have rutabagas to choose from any more!
Mayor: I pay you to think, don't I?! Listen, get me a festival by October or you're done for!
[time passes]
Mayor: Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls! Clap your hands and stomp your feet, for it is my great honor and privilege to crown Dirkersville's first ever Miss Head Louse!

But I digress...

Here, we've got the Pumpkin Festival. Lori and Amelia couldn't attend, but e5 and I wandered over for a bit of fun. We arrived early and managed to park for free on the edge of town (just a couple blocks from the action). Not paying for parking doubled our meager budget, which we spent entirely on ride tickets. Since it was early in the day, and most of the early crowd have all-day passes, most of the ride operators weren't even taking tickets, so we got quite a few rides in without depleting our ticket supply.

Then in a bit of karmic justice, I lost half of our tickets - probably while fishing the camera out of my pocket. With only two remaining, I told e5 he could ride one last ride, but it'd have to be by himself because I'd lost the rest of the tickets. He was mad that we had to leave soon, so he started arguing and stalling about which ride and whether he wanted to ride alone or not. We were in line for the Ferris Wheel when I discovered the ticket problem, and the kind people in front of us, on hearing our discussion, insisted on giving us an extra pair of tickets so we could ride together.

After we got off, I realized that once again, the operator had never asked for our tickets. The nice people ahead of us were long gone. So we sold the remaining tickets to somebody else and bought french fries and ice cream. A short walk back to the car, a quick dart across traffic, and we were all smiles driving past the 1.5 mile backup of incoming hordes. Good fun.

But before I get on with the pictures already, here is a list of the pumpkin-related products available at the festival:
- Pumpkin waffles
- Pumpkin pizza
- Pumpkin cream puffs
- Pumpkin bread
- Pumpkin-chip cookies
- Pumpkin blossoms
- Pumpkin burgers
- Pumpkin ice cream
- Pumpkin pie (of course)
- Pumpkin chili
- Pumpkin butter
- Pumpkin seeds
- Pumpkin pancakes
- Pumpkin cake
- Pumpkin elephant ears
- Pumpkin cheesecake
- Pumpkin brownies
- Pumpkin buckeyes
- Pumpkin butter creams
- Pumpkin taffy
- Pumpkin fudge
- Pumpkin brittle

Okay, okay, some photos...

Who could resist a pumpkin burger?

...or a pumpkin waffle, for that matter?

The main drag, from the top of the Ferris Wheel.
(It extended a couple of blocks in either direction)

E5, flying through town

E5, contemplating the world from above.

If you ever need a 1542.5 lb pumpkin,
this is the place to be:
(Note the giant tower o' pumpkins in the background.)

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