š Giving Tuesday and the spirit of giving is still going strong.
As we move into December, weāre reflecting on everything Pumpkinfest brought to our community this year the growers, the artists, the volunteers, the families lining Main Street, and the thousands of people who showed up to celebrate the giants.
If Pumpkinfest made you smile, gave your kids a memory they wonāt forget, or brought new energy into our coastal town, we hope youāll consider supporting us as we plan for Pumpkinfest 2026.
Your donation helps us keep this festival free, safe, creative, and truly community-powered.
Two easy ways to give:
š§” Venmo:
š§” Donation Page: damariscottapumpkinfest.com/donate
Every little bit helps carry this tradition forward.
Thank you for being part of the Pumpkinfest family. šš§”
11/27/2025
š¦ Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Throwback Thursday! š
Today weāre looking back at one of our favorite moments from Pumpkinfest 2023: the giant pumpkin at McDonaldās, beautifully decorated by the Sullivan/Caron family. Itās a reminder of how creativity, community, and local support all come together to make this festival what it is each year.
As we gather with family and friends today, we want to say thank you to everyone who pours their heart into Pumpkinfest our growers, artists, volunteers, sponsors, and the families who bring these giants to life.
Weāre especially grateful for ongoing sponsors like McDonaldās, whose support helps keep this event vibrant and free for the community.
From all of us at Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta, we wish you a warm, safe, and happy Thanksgiving. š§”
11/25/2025
š§” This Week of Thanksgiving, Weāre Grateful and Weāre Giving Back. š
As families gather and our town settles into the calm of late November, weāre reminded how much Damariscotta Pumpkinfest depends on the generosity of this community. This festival is free each year because people who love it step up, lend a hand, and give what they can.
If Pumpkinfest brought joy to you, your family, or your visitors this year, we hope youāll consider supporting us during this season of giving. Every donation ā big or small ā helps us keep the giants rolling for 2026.
There are two easy ways to give:
š§” Venmo:
š§” Donation Page: Visit our website and click Donate
Thank you for believing in this quirky, creative, community-driven celebration.
Weāre grateful for you today and all year long.
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11/22/2025
Weāre Looking for a New Website Lead!
Damariscotta Pumpkinfest is looking for a volunteer to take over website management and development for our 501(c)(3). Itās a key role that helps keep our community informed, tells our story year-round, and supports the thousands of people who visit our site each fall.
Our website currently runs on SquareSpace, and while experience with it is helpful, weāre also open to exploring other platforms in the future. Thatās a conversation weād have together with the Board to make sure itās the right fit.
Pumpkinfest began in 2007 with a simple idea placing giant pumpkins around town and has grown into a coastal Maine tradition that brings more than 20,000 visitors to our community each year. The website is the central hub for schedules, regatta details, pumpkin art, volunteer info, and everything that makes Pumpkinfest come alive.
While this is a volunteer position, itās a great way to give back, build your portfolio, and proudly say youāre part of one of Maineās most unique community events.
This week, we want to recognize a partner who has been with Pumpkinfest since the very beginning, Hammond Lumber Company. They play a critical role in pumpkin deployment every year, donating both staff and equipment to help us safely place our giants all over town.
We work closely with Ted Perkins, Vice President of Operations for the Midcoast Region, whose support and coordination make these long days of lifting, moving, and setting pumpkins possible. His behind-the-scenes work ensures everything runs smoothly from start to finish.
And then thereās Gunnar Gundersen, the steady hands behind some of our most delicate lifts. Whether itās guiding a pumpkin over a light pole, easing one across a sidewalk, or settling it onto a platform, Gunnar brings skill, patience, and years of experience. To this day, weāve never dropped a pumpkin and weāve never taken out the light poles in front of King Eiderās thanks to his precision and commitment to the community.
š§” From all of us at Damariscotta Pumpkinfest: thank you, Hammond Lumber, thank you Ted, and thank you Gunnar. Your teamwork, dedication, and generosity help make this festival possible every single year.
11/11/2025
šŗšø Today, we honor our veterans.
On this Veterans Day, we pause to recognize the men and women who have served our country with courage, sacrifice, and pride. Their commitment allows communities like ours to gather freely to celebrate, to create, and to come together each fall for events like Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta.
To every veteran in our community and beyond thank you for your service, your strength, and your continued example of dedication.
š§” From all of us at Damariscotta Pumpkinfest, we salute you.
šŗšø
11/07/2025
š Happy Friday, everyone!
If you were at this yearās Pumpkin Derby, you might recognize this young racer! š
What a great story and an even better post about him. Moments like this are what make Pumpkinfest so special. š§”
11/06/2025
š Happy Thursday, everyone and welcome to this weekās Thank You Thursday! š§”
Today we want to recognize the incredible Board of Directors and Committee Chairs who make Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta possible year after year.
Did you know that Pumpkinfest is entirely volunteer-run?
Our organization has seven Board Members, one Volunteer Executive Director position, and nearly 60 committee chairs and co-chairs and not a single one is a paid role. Every idea, meeting, and long day of setup happens because of people who love this community and believe in what Pumpkinfest brings to it.
Planning begins each March with monthly meetings, ramps up to weekly sessions in September, and finishes with our Lessons Learned & Debrief meeting in November. Itās a true year-round effort that turns one fall weekend into something extraordinary.
This year, that dedication sparked exciting new additions the Tour de Gourd 5K and a Sensory-Friendly Event at Coastal Kids both born from fresh ideas and passionate volunteers.
As we head into winter and begin planning for Pumpkinfest 2026, we want to remind everyone that weāre always just an email or message away. Some long-time chairs will be stepping down from Merchandise, PR, and Website Development, opening the door for new ideas and new faces.
š” Interested in joining a committee or sharing your skills?
Weād love to hear from you! Message us here or reach out through our website.
š§” From all of us at Damariscotta Pumpkinfest thank you to our dedicated leaders, and to everyone who helps keep this community tradition growing strong.
11/02/2025
š° Hot off the press!
While many of you caught the New York Times digital story earlier last week, today the print edition officially hit newsstands and we couldnāt be prouder to see Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta featured in a paper with national and global circulation. š
To have our small coastal Maine town ā our growers, volunteers, artists, and community showcased on this scale is truly something special. It highlights not just Pumpkinfest, but the heart and spirit that make this event what it is.
A heartfelt thank-you to everyone who makes Pumpkinfest possible and to the New York Times for sharing our story with the world. š
10/31/2025
The Pumpkin Grinch of Damariscotta
āA Halloween Taleā
High on Pumpkin Ridge, where sea fog curls through bare branches and the wind moans like an old fiddle, lived a strange, orange-furred creature the townsfolk called the Pumpkin Grinch.
Every October, when Damariscotta lit its jack-oā-lanterns and the smell of roasted seeds drifted through the harbor, the Pumpkin Grinch would glare down from his hill. He hated the laughter. He hated the costumes. And most of all, he hated the way pumpkins his pumpkins were carved into silly faces and left to rot in the street.
One stormy Halloween Eve, thunder shook the ridge. His largest pumpkin a glowing giant broke loose and rolled down toward town. It tumbled through the graveyard, cracked fences, and finally stopped right in the middle of Main Street just as the children began their trick-or-treating.
The townspeople gasped. Some swore they saw faces swirling inside its orange glow. But instead of fear, the children cheered. They climbed atop it, laughing, and declared it The Great Pumpkin of Damariscotta.
Up on the ridge, the Pumpkin Grinch froze. For the first time, he didnāt feel angerāhe felt curiosity.
Before dawn, he crept into town to reclaim his prize. But as he watched the candles flicker and heard the sleepy giggles of children clutching candy buckets, something cracked inside his chest. Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was loneliness.
He sighed, fired up his old forklift, and rolled in more of his massive pumpkinsāone for every corner of the village. By sunrise, the whole town glowed in warm orange light, and no one was afraid anymore.
They say that from that night on, the Pumpkin Grinch joined the celebrationācarving faces, roasting seeds, and handing out cider under the full moon.
And if you listen closely on Halloween night, you can still hear the hum of his forklift somewhere in the fog, delivering pumpkins to every doorstep.
š From all of us at Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta, have a safe and happy Halloween! š
10/30/2025
š Kicking Off Thank You Thursdays! š§”
As we head into the holiday season, weāre starting a new series called Thank You Thursday a weekly post celebrating the incredible people who make Damariscotta Pumpkinfest possible.
Today, as we kick this off, we want to give a huge thank-you to everyone who took advantage of the QR codes spotted around town during Pumpkinfest. Your support helps keep this a free, family-friendly event for everyone to enjoy and itās the perfect way to launch our season of gratitude.
The QR code is still active, and thereās still time to give! If you came to Pumpkinfest this year and loved what you experienced, please consider donating $20 to help us make next yearās festival even bigger and better.
You can also donate through Venmo:
š§” Thank you for helping us keep the Pumpkinfest spirit alive all year long!
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Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta is a uniquely spirited event that provides education to young and old, and also an economic boost to this rural, coastal community. Our intent is to expand annually, as has been the case since our inception in 2007.
Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta is an innovative program that promotes horticultural education to gardeners of all ages regarding the specific agricultural science required to grow Atlantic Giant Pumpkins. This program culminates each year in a family-oriented festival, held for ten days in early October through Columbus Day weekend, to showcase the pumpkin growers achievements in a number of creative ways. Damariscotta is a small Maine town whose economic basis is fishing and tourism. Each year Pumpkinfest attracts between 10-15,000 visitors providing a substantial influx of commerce to the area.
The educational mission of Pumpkinfest is accomplished in a number of ways. Each Spring, 50 third-grade students at local Great Salt Bay School volunteer their time to fill 600 pots with soil and amendments for each yearās seeds. More than 400 volunteer-growers grow those plants which are distributed free of charge during āSeedling Sundayā. Detailed, written growing instructions are provided during that event, plus monthly āPumpkinfest newsletterā tips and techniques. In addition, horticultural presentations are given to intergenerational partnerships of retirees and local school children who are interested in learning about growing giant pumpkins.
Quantifiable pumpkin evaluation measures include weight data collected at the annual October weigh-off ā which is officially sanctioned by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC). Detailed data is collected on the genetics of the free Atlantic Giant Pumpkin plants which are distributed each Spring at Seedling Sunday, and which then return to the weigh-off in October as 200-1,400 pound pumpkins. Seeds from the largest, hardiest pumpkins are dried & planted in the subsequent year, for the purpose of high grading the overall stock.
Pumpkinfest draws visitors to the mid-coast region, and the entire state of Maine, via widely-publicized events such as:
The Pumpkinboat Regatta, featuring numerous 400-700 pound, hollowed-out pumpkins with motors attached or paddled, piloted by volunteer captains, racing one another in the Damariscotta Harbor. This event is live-fed into the local theater;
A downtown display of 65+ volunteer-carved and decorated giant pumpkins lining Main Street in Damariscotta & Newcastle;
The Pumpkin Derby, with competitions for kids and adults;
The ever popular Pumpkin Dessert Contest and Pumpkin Pie Eating Contests;
The infamous 180ā² Pumpkin Drop onto a stack of junked cars; and
The Giant Pumpkin Parade, featuring the winning pumpkin (the largest fruit in the State of Maine) from the weigh-off.
The Columbus Day weekend events, a true āslice of small town Americana,ā are supported by the entire community. Damariscotta Pumpkinfest has no paid staff. Instead, nearly one hundred local businesses and over 400 volunteer-growers support this community event with both their time and money. Volunteers engineer and build the boats, artists and sculptors create the downtown displays, and farmers grow āammunitionā for the hunt/drop. The Maine Maritime Museum historic wooden-boat building crew competes in the regatta. The Boothbay Railway Village and Visit Freeport also are participating in 2018. The sense of wonder in the eyes of the children who attend the events of Damariscotta Pumpkinfestā¢ is a joy to behold!
National television coverage was generated in 2013, when the regatta was extensively featured on the āCBS News ā Sunday Morningā show, and in 2012 when the ABC talk show āThe Chewā highlighted Damariscotta Pumpkinfestā¢. In addition, the The Discovery Channel, The Travel Channel, New York One, German Public Radio, the British Broadcasting Companyās āGlobal Guideā, and Deutsche Welle, among others, have covered Pumpkinfest. The Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regattaā¢ web site experiences more than 20,000 visits during the week of the festival, and nearly 61,000 visits each year. Prior yearās visitors have come from New England, CA, TX, NYC, the UK and Europe.
In 2017, Pumpkinfest was delighted to be named Best Fall Festival in Maine by Travel and Leisure magazine!
