The Nightmare That Is The Keene Pumpkin Festival

We've come to the part in the blog where I am suppose to write about my first experience attending the Keene Pumpkin Festival (in Keene, NH where David went to college). I've heard about the festival for years and finally had a chance to go. This is the part of the blog where I am suppose to post cute photos of all the amazing pumpkins we saw, the "carnival" food we ate on the streets, the pictures of us posing together among the lit pumpkins. We've come to the part of the blog where I should be trying to make you want to come up and visit next year during October, just to make this festival. 

But the reality is, it was an over-hyped, under-lit, mass of people walking in two lines and after paying the $15 to park, this is mainly what we saw:

But I'm getting ahead of myself. To understand the story completely, you must realize that earlier that day around the lunch table (at 11:45) it was decided that we would skip dinner at the house, leave George and Nancy behind and take off about 5:30 for dinner and pumpkins, ending the night with fireworks at 8:30 or so. They didn't want any part of it. Nancy had pre-prepared dinner, as is her way, not expecting us to leave so early. So she packed up the pasta dinner that she was going to prepare and we opted to head out and eat in Keene at the festival. Never having attended before I was suspecting something much like the Hebron Fair with booths and all sorts of yummy food and drinks, places to sit, live music, perhaps a game or two for the kiddos. Lots of amazingly carved pumpkins all lit and flickering. Couldn't wait. 

As we pulled in, the anticipation was building. The traffic was tight and parking was at a premium, so we pulled in and paid to back into a small space in a field lot and we were off. David and I took our pumpkins to be registered. As we were walking in I asked, "Are we suppose to bring pumpkins? We seem to be the only ones carrying pumpkins."  As we looked around the masses, we seemed to be the only two people oddly walking with these carved orange spheres in our hands.  I started to feel a little goofy, but when we got closer to the center of town, you could see there were lots of pumpkins already there.  The wind was making it difficult to keep them lit, so the effect was lost.  But here are a few I got:

David's among the others on the outskirts of the festival.

 This didn't photograph all that well, but it was clearly a Texas Rangers pumpkin if you were standing there. REPRESENT!

This was the main attraction I guess.

As we marched like cattle in line through the masses, this was the desired destination: a bunch of pumpkins that I am assuming were lit by electric light as most of the other pumpkins weren't lit at all and everyone of these seem to be.  There were few on a low shelf that spelled out "Will You Marry Me?" I thought about that for quite sometime.  Unless you are a pumpkin carver by trade or actually run the festival, what person in their right mind would want to be proposed to among all the hustle and bustle and crowds from pumpkins sitting next to other "advertisement" pumpkins. I felt sorry for that girl. That would be her proposal story for the rest of her life. 

After this, we were quite hungry and I was dying to go to the bathroom. It was cold and windy. I was tired. We marched through the streets popping in and out of places finding long waits wherever we went.  The crowds were staring to get to me. Keeping my eyes down, I marched along behind hanging on for dear life to David's hand.  No time for a panic attack now.  Keep moving!! 

Eventually we ran across a sandwich shop. I jumped in line for the bathroom right away and stood there for 15 minutes or so with all the other desperate women and children.  When I finally made it out, I did feel much better, but the others  were at a back table waiting on me. "The credit card machine is down. We have to go somewhere else." No one had enough cash on them. Long, drawn out, frustrating story made short, we went in and out of restaurants, in and out of the car, parking lot to parking lot looking for a place to sit down and have a meal. I was starving by now. I could smell Nancy's pasta....I could hear their laughter back in the cozy house with their warm meal.....they were the smart ones!

But as it turned out, we had a lovely meal in a place called "The Longhorn" with cowboy hats on the wall, boots and ropes all around. It was Love & War In Texas all over again. Burgers hit the spot for all of us and we made it home safe and sound by 10:00 or so. 

I guess this is the part of the blog that I'm suppose to say I had a great time and can't wait to do it all again next year, but I hope to never go back.  It's not a place for kids. It's not a place for families or anyone with claustrophobic tendencies.  Not sure the appeal - perhaps it was a less than stellar year. But not one I'll be chomping at the bit to repeat any time soon.