For 22 years, the Armstrong Harvest Pumpkin Festival has been bringing families together to celebrate autumn, featuring huge pumpkins weighing hundreds of pounds.
“Our winning pumpkin was 846 pounds,” said Patti Noonan, executive director of Armstrong Spallumcheen Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Centre.
“You get bad and good years for pumpkins.”
The volunteer-run festival celebrates Armstrong’s agricultural roots and gives young families a chance to test their green thumbs by growing giant gourds.
“I like it and I really like it so much that I want to enter it again,” said four-year-old Emilia Lindsay who grew the pumpkin with her mom, Andrea, and her younger sister.
“It takes a lot of patience and a lot of nerve,” said Andrea. “We started the seed on April 15.”
After the pumpkins are weighed and recorded, they are perfect for kids to climb and to take photos with.
Also front and centre at the festival today was the Milky Way Dairy 4H Club, which is counting on community support after a devastating loss this summer.
“So this is for the Milky Way Dairy 4H Club, for our luggage cows and all the stuff we lost.”
The fundraiser will continue until Oct. 14 and donations are being accepted at the Armstrong Spallumcheen Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Centre.