Story & Photos by Tess Jewell-Larsen
It was a typical Oregon fall day. The air was wet and chilly and the clouds hinted at rain. Pulling up into the Bruce Starker Arts Park in Corvallis, a crowd had already started to gather for the Giant Pumpkin Party, held by the Corvallis Environmental Center at Starker Arts Garden of Education (SAGE).
The second annual Giant Pumpkin Party began at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon, but people started showing up long before then. Good weather may not have been on the forecast or in the air, but it didn’t seem to stop people from making their way to the party.
“Actually, we were thinking about canceling it, ‘cause the forecast said 18 mph [winds] and 70 percent chance of rain,” said Outreach Coordinator Rachel Karasick. “But you can’t ever tell.”
The entrance fee to the party was free, but the group suggested a donation of $20 for a family and $10 an individual. Events included a scavenger hunt, a small pumpkin patch that allowed kids and their parents to pick out the perfect pumpkin for Halloween, and face painting. Five-year-old Charlie of the Maughan and Shutta family enjoyed this last event commenting, “I’m a kitty. Meow!”
The fruits and vegetables that SAGE produces go to organizations such as the South Corvallis Food Bank and the Stone Soup soup kitchen.
“We also have a program in schools, a farm school program where we bring in food from a local farm and have kids, each month, try different things,” says Jen Brown, the director of the Edible Corvallis Initiative, one of the Corvallis Environmental Center’s community projects. “We put out about 7,000 pounds of food a year. By 2012, our goal is to have that be up to 10,000 pounds.”
Throughout the party, kids and adults weighed themselves against a pumpkin and guessed how giant the gourd was. The guesses then went into a raffle.
“There is only one person who knows the actual weight,” says volunteer and Oregon State University freshman Natassia Haller. “Most people are guessing 135 to 200 pounds.”
The giant pumpkin’s weight raffle went to Anita Earl who guessed 183 pounds. Earl and her daughter Anneliese took home a pie for their guessing efforts, while seven-year-old Natalie Hayes and her parents won the 183-pounder.
Hayes said she was going to carve a smiley face into her giant pumpkin. Her mother thought it might be a good idea to have a group of Natalie’s friends over and they could all carve the pumpkin, because it’s big enough.
The Corvallis Environmental Center is holding a family mushroom hunt Sunday, November 7 along Lewisburg’s Road old growth trail in Corvallis. The hike starts at 2 p.m. and has a suggested donation of $5 to $10. For more information, contact the Corvallis Environmental Center by email or phone.
The Giant Pumpkin Party
October 29, 2010
The Giant Pumpkin Party
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