The Giant Pumpkin Festival

I'd noticed the publicity for a Giant Pumpkin Festival and, when the day arrived, drove to the fairgrounds in the town of Gouverneur. I parked, and began walking toward the action. The first activity I encountered was a children's bouncy castle and popcorn machine. The woman in orange was, I soon discovered, the master of ceremonies and I would be encountering her wherever I went:

But of course my first stop was to see the giant pumpkins:

There were food venders:

And a commercial exhibit with lots of venders of various, local wares:

One barn was devoted to giant pumpkins and folks were taking photographs beside them. It really did help to appreciate the size of those big, orange fruits to have people beside them:

They were huge, but not always orange:

A local country band was playing:

And the mid-size pumpkins were displayed outside. That crane you see would be used later for the giant pumpkin drop (and splat):

These men were hollowing a pumpkin for the big drop. It was to be filled with numbered golf balls and people were buying tickets. The three golf balls which flew the farthest when the pumpkin hit the ground would earn prizes for the folks who took a chance:

There was chainsaw carving:

And a pumpkin pie eating contest, with eleven contestants of all ages. The winner would be whoever ate an entire pumpkin pie the fastest. The emcee, the ubiquitous woman in orange, was teasing them by saying the winner's prize would be only a pumpkin pie and a bottle of water:

This man was the winner. Apparently the emcee was not joking, as she gave him a pumpkin pie, a bottle of water and a tee-shirt. I hope he also got some cash, but I didn't see any. There was also, of course, a weigh-in for the heaviest pumpkins, but I'll post about that tomorrow: