In 1991 Keene, New Hampshire had a harvest festival that attracted a few local people who brought about 600 jack o lanterns. By 2003 the harvest festival had become a pumpkin festival and the number of lit jack o lanterns had risen to 28,952. The Guinness World Record people became interested that year and gave Keene the record for the most lit jack o lanterns assembled in one place. Boston took the record from Keene in 2006 with 30,128 jack o lanterns. This year on October 19th Keene took back the world record with 30,581 lit jack o lanterns and I was there taking photos. I thought I’d show you a few of the better ones. These were all taken in the dark without a tripod, so I’ll warn you that they aren’t the sharpest photos you’ve seen. Even so, I’d guess that most of you have never seen anything quite like 30,581 lit jack o lanterns.
There were mischievous jack o lanterns.
There were wise jack o lanterns.
There were cute jack o lanterns.
And there were some that I really didn’t get. Maybe this was someone’s initials.
I’m not sure who this one was supposed to represent, but it must have been windy where they were.
There were row upon row of jack o lanterns everywhere you looked. Volunteers lit the candle in each one and then more volunteers came along behind them to count them all. This works best when there is no wind!
There were towering jack o lanterns exhibits. There used to be several of these pumpkin towers along the main street but organizes worried about them tipping over onto the crowd, so now there is just this one. It is quite tall.
The biggest jack o lantern always gets the highest perch.
There was live music in the gazebo, which was surrounded by jack o lanterns. I tried to get a photo of the crowd but it didn’t work out. If you picture a crowd of people packed together so tightly that you couldn’t fall down if you wanted to, you’ll have a good idea of what it was like. The population of Keene-around 23,000-can swell to 80,000 during a pumpkin festival. It took me nearly 2 hours to walk up and down the length of Main Street. Doing so might take 15 minutes on an average day.
There was even a full moon that night.
Some of the gourds were quite warty.
I’m still not sure who this is supposed to be, but someone with talent carved it.
This gourd was eating a fish. I’m not sure why.
These two were the most elaborate, with doors that opened and even dolls and furniture inside.
This one was odd. I don’t know if it was a giant zucchini or something else, but it had a whale on it.
Some jack o lanterns were just evil, no matter if you took a photo in bright light….
or darkness.
This one must have represented Swiss cheese.
There were lots of cats.
There were pirate ships. I saw 3 or 4 of these.
There were several ghosts.
A few haunted houses.
There were flaming faces.
And of course, there were skeletons. Or at least skulls.
After snapping about a hundred photos I was off into the night, hoping I’d be able to find my vehicle in a sea of them. This is the first pumpkin festival I’ve been to since 1993, and it might be another 20 years before I see another one.
When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ’tis near Halloween ~Anonymous
Have a happy Halloween. Thanks for coming by.
New Hampshire Garden Solutions 
That would have been so cool.
AWESOME PUMPKINS! Really great post!
Thanks!
Great Pumpkin festival… eerie & creative, Aquileana 😉
Some very skilled carving. I often wonder if Halloween celebrations in the States originated in Scotland. I preferred Halloween to Christmas as a child. We went out on “Gloshons” (sorry I don’t know how it is spelt). We took carved turnip lanterns to light our way (no pumpkins in Scotland!), we dressed up so people wouldn’t recognise us and went from door to door. We would ask “Any Gloshons?” We had to do “something” for our treat (there was no trick) it could have been singing a short song, something on the piano if available – I often recited a poem (no musical ability!). We were then rewarded with fruit and nuts and sometimes money if the hapless householders had been inundated with Gloshons that year. Ah memories!
Apparently vegetable carving has been popular all over the world for centuries, which I never knew. There is a real interesting article about it on Wikipedia that speaks of the Scottish and Irish roots of the tradition. You can read it here if you like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack-o'-lantern
It sounds like you had a harder time getting treats on halloween than we did! All we had to do was say “Trick or Treat.”
Very fun post! My 3 year granddaughter enjoyed it with me. And we didn’t have to be out in the crowd. Thanks.
I’m glad your granddaughter liked the jack o lanterns Chris. You would have had to carry her if you had been in this crowd!
We’ve been to the Keene Pumpkin Festival with the grandkids three times and enjoyed each and every trip and the talents of so many people. So glad they keep it going and that they took back the record. We didn’t get there this year so thanks for sharing your photos.
You’re welcome Judy.
Thanks! This was great!
You’re welcome Montucky!
That is really amazing, and what a treat you have shared with us. Thanks!
You’re welcome Sue!
Oh am I glad you posted this!!! I was wondering how Keene made out this year! We haven’t been since mid to late 90’s but think about it every year, usually remembering a day after. I remember walking in a light drizzle with towers all down Main Street. What a fun event.
I’m glad you liked it. It seems like it rains more often than not on festival days, but that might just be my imagination. The kids got wet trick or treating this evening.
Fantastic!
Thanks!
Very nice, Allen…I think I’d be good for going once every 20 years, also. 😉
I know what you mean. Crowds don’t really do it for me either.
Yep. 🙂
Great photos! We don’t really do Halloween in the UK, although it seems to be getting more popular. When I was a child there was nothing at all, no trick or treating, no dressing up or decorations and certainly no pumpkins. There are some now but nothing like you have. 🙂
Thanks! I thought Halloween was a big thing there, but I’m not sure where I ever heard that. I’m sure your dental bills are lower than ours too-I forget how many billions of dollars are spent on candy in this country each Halloween but it’s an amazing number. I have a large bowl full right here, ready for tonight, so I’m doing my part in helping enrich the local dentists!
Maybe I should retrain as a dentist and come to live in the US 🙂
Plenty of work here!
Wow, some very creative pumpkin carvers there in Keene! It’s looking like our own Halloween is going to be soggy, with rain in the forecast.
That’s too bad for the kids. They say scattered showers here, but at least it isn’t snow.
Reblogged this on The Salem Garden and commented:
Gosh this looks fun! Great pumpkin carving ideas for the talented and patient carvers out there too!
It is fun-especially for the school kids who all get free pumpkins to carve! It’s a bit less fun for parents who then might spend hours wandering around, trying to find their child’s pumpkin among many thousands of others. The look of pride on the child’s face when their pumpkin is finally found makes it all worth while though. I saw a lot of that this year and remembered when I used to do the same.
Yes, that must be daunting as a parent, lol. Loved your photos! We’re carving pumpkins here in a little while. I’m hoping we can create something as beautiful as some of these.
Absolutely amazing!!!
Yes-it was certainly that. What amazes me most is how the next morning you can drive right through downtown Keene without knowing that there was ever a single pumpkin there. Volunteers work all night to clean it all up, and the pumpkins all become pig food.
A lot of cool carving took place for the festival! This was an unexpected treat, but like many of the festivals around here, I can see why you wouldn’t want to deal with the crowds every year. I’m glad you did though, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Thanks Jerry. Crowds aren’t my thing either but I thought I’d go through it just once more to get photos for the blog. After all, it isn’t something you can just go and see any old time. I’m glad you liked the post!
I have never been to the pumpkin festival…too many people in one place for me. So thank you for sharing. I can’t imagine the time and artistic ability it took to carve some of those pumpkins. Very cool!
If you don’t like crowds, the pumpkin festival is a good thing to stay away from. I find that it’s much like a flower show, with so many people in the front doing the looking that the ones in the back can’t really see anything. I had to elbow my way through to the front several times to get photos.
It is interesting to see how artistic people can be though. Most of the pumpkins were carved by school kids too.
What a FUN event!! You got unbelievable pics!
The fish eating gourd wins my vote for most unusual!
Thanks! That fish eating one was really unusual. Maybe the child who thought it up has an artistic future.
What a fun idea for the festival.
The idea of the crowd injuries if a tower fell down really made me smile. I can just imagine the scene in the local hospital’s accident and emergency department. Doctor to patient; “how did you say you got all these bruises and burns?”
It would have been kind of hard to explain, I agree Jim. These things are 2 or 3 stories high, so it would have been quite a mess.
Reblogged this on Oil Pastels by Mary and commented:
Wow, now this is the way to celebrate Jack-o-lanterns the New England way!
So cool – Happy Halloween!
Thank you Mary. Same to you!
Love, love, love your photos. Thanks for the tour!
You’re welcome martha. Glad you liked them!
I love the photos! Many thanks!!
You’re welcome Pat!
Pumpkin carving really is an art form. Thank for sharing so many.
You’re welcome Grampy. It takes a lot more patience than I have to do the more elaborate ones, not to mention the artistic ability.
These are some coolest-looking jack-o-lanterns that I have ever seen. It’s amazing how creative folks can get in carving a pumpkin. (The only ones that I have ever done have had simple triangular eyes and nose and a toothy grin). It’s overwhelming to think of so many lit pumpkins in one place (and that tower is impressive). Your photos are wonderful–I don’t think that extreme sharpness would be necessary or even desirable for this subject.
Thanks Mike. I carve simple pumpkins like you but some people really get into it and spend what I imagine must be hours on their carvings. Getting useable photos of them was quite a trick!