| New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival | |
|---|---|
 | |
 A few of the tens of thousands of pumpkins on display at the 2000 Keene Pumpkin Festival | |
| Genre | Autumn, Halloween, pumpkin lighting |
| Frequency | October |
| Location(s) |
|
| Inaugurated | 1991 |
| Founder | Nancy Sporborg |
| Most recent | October 27–28, 2023 |
| Next event | October 26, 2024 |
| Attendance | 40,000 (2017)[1] |
| Organized by |
|
| Sponsor | Zippo Manufacturing Company |
| Website | www |
The New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival (also known as the Keene Pumpkin Festival from 1991 to 2014, and the Laconia Pumpkin Festival in 2015; often referred to as Pumpkin Fest) is a pumpkin festival that is held in Laconia, New Hampshire, United States before Halloween. Each year, New Hampshire residents and citizens attempt to amass the largest number of lit jack-o'-lanterns in one place, trying to meet or beat the world record, which the city of Keene, New Hampshire—the festival's venue for its first 24 years—held for many years.
The 24th festival in 2014 gained notoriety when parties held by Keene State College students in the area led to riots a relatively short distance from the festival grounds. This resulted in the Keene City Council rejecting the festival's annual permit for the following year.[2] Laconia took over as the festival's host city in 2015,[3][4] with the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce taking over from previous festival organizers, Let it Shine the following year after having assisted them in the 2015 festival. A new annual, scaled-down Keene Pumpkin Festival organized by Let it Shine—unrelated to the former one but promoted by the organizers as the "official" continuation of it[5]—was first held on October 29, 2017,[6][7][8] and has continued in this iteration ever since.
- ^ Drapcho, Adam (October 15, 2018). "Pumpkin Fest crowds were 'elbow to elbow'". Laconia Daily Sun. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
City Council Reject Pumpkin Fest Permitwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Laconia-hostingwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
lpf-15-countwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Let it Shine, Inc. "Let it Shine Pumpkin Festival". Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
Let it Shine, Inc., Nonprofit organizers of Pumpkin Festival 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sentinel-source-17was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
newhampshire.com-17was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cuno-Booth, Paul (October 30, 2017). "Scaled-down version of Keene's pumpkin festival a hit with many Sunday". Sentinel Source. Keene Sentinel. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
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