On a crisp October night in downtown Keene, Main Street glows orange. Thousands of jack-o’-lanterns line the sidewalks, their flickering candlelight and unique faces drawing the community together in celebration of the fall season. For longtime attendees, the Keene Pumpkin Festival is more than an event — it’s a tradition.
This year, the festival will be held Saturday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m., welcoming community members and visitors from throughout New England to see glowing jack-o’-lanterns, food vendors, live music and children’s activities. The event has become one of the region’s most beloved fall celebrations — and a welcome opportunity for the community to gather.
Jenn Clark, a longtime Jaffrey resident, remembers attending the festival years ago when her children were small. “When the festival first started, my kids were a lot younger,” she explains. “You could paint or carve pumpkins, walk around, look at how many there were. They had fireworks at night. There were a ton of activities.”
One memory stands out to her. “The first time I brought the kids, they were awestruck… During the day you see the shapes, but at night when they light them, downtown is glowing. They were just like, oh wow, this is amazing.”
The festival set a Guinness World Record in 2013 for the most carved, lit jack-o’-lanterns in one place at an astonishing 30,581. Over a decade later, the record still stands, but the emphasis has shifted. Today, the festival focuses less on numbers and more on the sense of togetherness that comes from creating art as a community.
The magic of the festival has always come from its “luminescence,” a vision founder Nancy
Sporborg shared when she first launched the event in 1991. “The Pumpkin Festival started out as a gift to a community from its downtown merchants. It became a gift to the world. … The heart of the Pumpkin Festival lies in the pumpkins. The meaning… lies in everyone’s participation,” she wrote in a 2009 message reflecting on the festival’s origin.
Over the years, the festival has grown from a small harvest festival to a world-record-setting event, earning international attention for its number of jack-o’-lanterns. For the Clarks and other families, the appeal has always been about people and participation. “It brought all walks of life, from young to old,” Clark said. “It didn’t matter what age you were, there was something for everybody.”
The festival has faced challenges, including a halt in 2014 after riots linked to off-campus parties near Keene State College turned violent. Fires were set, cars overturned, and police in riot gear were called in to make dozens of arrests. The city shut down the event the following year. Its return has since focused on a family-friendly atmosphere encouraging participation from all ages.
Clark hasn’t returned since the festival came back post-COVID, but she said she is hopeful. “I understand people not wanting to deal with crowds. But I also understand trying to deal with more security, more of a family atmosphere, like it used to be. I commend them on that,” she said.
After isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival’s return carries special significance. Families and friends are eager to reconnect with each other, enjoy the crisp fall air, and share a day of fun and celebration. “People were very isolated during COVID,” Clark said. “It’s important to get people out … and feel that sense of community. This helps get the community back together, back on one page.”
Sporborg’s words from the festival’s early years still ring true: “The beauty of the
Pumpkin Festival lies in what is created together. What better gift could there be than to show the world what a community can do?”
Clark’s daughter, Gracie, 17, is part of the younger generation discovering the festival for themselves. “I was too young to remember the festival the last time I went,” she said. “But I’ve heard it’s awesome. … I’d love to go back with some friends this year.”
Anna Fernald of Jaffrey is a senior at the University of Vermont studying public communication.