This year’s Pumpkin Parade was a spooky affair at Kingsville’s Lakeside Park on Monday, Nov. 1st. It had all we could have hoped for to create a successful experience for our town.

We had helpers on hand earlier that day to set up the parade path for viewing. Many people from our community and the surrounding area turned out to walk the pumpkin trail that evening.

And of course, no Pumpkin Parade would be complete without a massive number of pumpkins. And we certainly had them!

People had brought us their pumpkins that had decorated their yards and porches for Hallowe’en. The parade is a nice way to give these pumpkins a last hurrah, instead of just being disposed of after the big night is over.

We took in more than 700 pumpkins from more than 200 donors. That’s a lot of pumpkins!

There were enough to line the entire path around the lower bowl of the park. The creativity of those who carved them was impressive, and made the walk a very enjoyable one.

The volunteers from Communities in Bloom were very grateful for help from the 2nd Kingsville Scouts. The Scouts gave us a hand after the event to load the pumpkins into trucks.

The trucks would be taking the pumpkins up to Farm Organics at 284 East on County Road 34, Cottam for livestock fodder.

From Hallowe’en decorations, to a parade, to some lucky animal’s dinner. Our pumpkins did it all!

Top photo: Pumpkin Parade volunteers.
All photos provided by Heather Crewe and Karen Loney