If your yearly yearning for oversized orange gourds needed attention, you were probably downtown before Halloween.
Beautiful Downtown Lloydminster organized the festival, which included over two dozen vendors. People of all ages attended the core to see some of the largest pumpkins from around the area.
Additionally, the turnout for live music, car show and vendors thrilled Brenda Rose, one of the event organizers.
"It's a good family event meant to bring the community closer together," stated Rose. "We are trying to encourage more people to attend events downtown we are planning, and we hope this one will get bigger and better every year."
Meanwhile, if you were in attendance to learn about seasonal spheres, some of the growers were there to explain the process. Dane Suchan grew two of the largest pumpkins and displayed them for eventgoers. He explains that growing the oversized jack-o-lantern fruit is an extensive, time-consuming project.
"We usually start the seed in the middle of April, if you have warming cables outside getting the ground warmed up, you can get outside early and that is important," explained Suchan. "To grow the pumpkin into this large ball takes a good genetic seed, lots of vine burning, trimming and keeping just one on the plant to grow out as long as possible."
He says the process can become addicting. You get into drip lines, water tanks, fertilizer, and the list goes on and on. The results of his work this year were a 663, 637, and a 419-pound pumpkin. Blue Grass Pumpkin Drop in Calgary received the donated 419-pounder. He hopes to get a gourd over a grand one day, but reaching that goal has been a tough run.
New business opens:
Furthermore, a new business downtown held its grand opening during the event. Karalee Toews, owner of Simple Farmer, a country-style antique and food store, moved her business from Marsden to Lloyd.
"We hope to help keep the sense of community in the downtown, it's very important to us," said Toews. "We see a demand for our type of products and are looking forward to being successful in this location."
The largest pumpkin on display during the afternoon weighed over 2000 pounds. After attending the event, people left with crafts, pies, and smiles. The organizers hope this is the beginning of many other plans in the core of Lloydminster.
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