The 2023 Keene Pumpkin Festival returned to Keene on Saturday, Oct. 21, for a day of food, music and pumpkins galore. The annual festival, a popular autumn tradition for the city, brought community members, artists, performers and local businesses and organizations together, despite rain which lasted most of the day. The event included a 30-foot-tall tower of pumpkins, which stood in Main Street, and 4,000 jack-o’-lanterns carved by local elementary school students.
The festival has been organized since 2011 by non-profit organization Let it Shine, Inc. In 2014, a riot which led to multiple injuries and arrests caused the Keene City Council to deny Let it Shine, Inc. the required permits to host the event in 2015, causing it to be temporarily held in Laconia, New Hampshire. Since returning to Keene in 2022, Let it Shine, Inc. has downsized the event and adopted a child-centered theme.
“We had everything we wanted this year. The whole point was to bring the festival back to Keene in a reasonable, community scaled kind of fashion. Since it’s a free event, it’s hard to determine the exact number of people in attendance, but we’re estimating between 3,000 to 4,000 people showed up. The rain helped keep the event smaller and more reasonable, but unfortunately some of the jack-o-lanterns weren’t able to stay lit,” said Let It Shine, Inc. President Mike Giacomo. “I’m just so proud that we were able to bring it all back, and do so in a way that made so many people happy. That’s always been the goal, to do something that has brought so much joy to the community. Kids, adults, people who have memories of the festival, it’s so rewarding just to see it all pay off.”
Giacomo said a greater police presence would be helpful for future events.
“Police staffing in Keene is not where it needs to be right now. If today wasn’t rainy, we may have gotten three or four times as many attendees. The number we had this year was great, and double that would probably be fine, but once we get in the ballpark of 15,000 people, we start running into questions of sustainability from the city.”
The Keene Pumpkin Festival has a longstanding reputation for showcasing local businesses, organizations and community resources. The United Church of Christ on Main Street frequently has hosted a haunted house during the festival to raise money for the church’s youth group.
“The church has a long history of hosting haunted houses as a fundraiser for the youth services trip we do every year, which will be in June of this year. I think today’s festival was pure dedication on the part of the community since the weather was so terrible. People were showing up in raincoats and umbrellas, and that just shows how much enthusiasm there is for the festival to return to Keene after such a long break. People were going to do whatever it took to participate. We all know from having lost it, how important the festival is to the community,” said Marty Hennum, the church youth program director.
Benjamin Allard, alumni ‘23, hosted a display table for Keene’s Amtgard club, a live-action role playing community and sword-fighting game. Allard said the rain contributed to lower attendance at this year’s event. “This year was great, but sadly not quite as good as previous years. The real reason is the rain. We were expecting a lot more people, but despite that we still had fun and saw the community have fun. We would have seen a larger showing had it not been so rainy.” Allard said despite the rain, the community and vendors made the festival a success. “It’s a fun thing we can do to celebrate Halloween. We had trick-or-treating, the giant tower of pumpkins, and lots of fun ways to get into the spirit of the season without going door to door.”
Skip Mason, alumni ‘74, attended the event on Saturday, and has been to previous Pumpkin Festivals in Keene. “Keene is a beautiful city. Whatever happened in 2014 is in the past, and it’s great that we’re trying to get it back. I think this year went off without any problems, and it’s wonderful to see it coming back, even if it’s not as large as previous years.”
After speaking with The Equinox, Mason returned to the elementary school jack-o’-lanterns to find those made by his grandchildren.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
