RR Pumpkin Festival is Saturday

By Ken Johnston
Editor

This Saturday Rainy River will play host to “The Great Pumpkin” for the 13th year.
The 13th Annual Rainy River Valley Giant Pumpkin Festival is set to weigh-in at the Rainy River Arena and organizers are very excited after last year’s record shattering event.
The top three pumpkins last year broke all existing local records weighing in at 1,173 lbs. (Ben Johnson of Kakabeka Falls), 1,032 lbs. (Don Cronk of Thunder Bay) and 960 lbs. (Ben Johnson of Kakabeka Falls).
Event coordinator Eltjo Wiersema said that seeds from the 1,173 pound champion were donated by Johnson to be distributed to growers in the region. “We gave quite a few of them away, but I have not heard of any of them producing monsters for this year, but so many growers keep their pumpkin status a secret,” said Wiersema this Monday.
With the onslaught of bigger and bigger pumpkins year after year, organizers have felt that less serious growers have opted not to bring their smaller or medium sized pumpkins to the weigh-ins. To help them reconsider, prizes have been added to the event. It used to be that just the top three pumpkins would receive $1,000, $500 and $100 respectively. In addition to those prizes there will now be $50 for the closest to 100 lbs., $50 closest to 200 lbs, $75 closest to 300 lbs., $100 closest to 400 lbs. and $100 closest to 500 lbs.
Wiersema said that they have also beefed up the Junior Growers prizes. They are now $100 for 1st, $50 for 2nd and $25 for 3rd.
The hidden weight will again be $100, “So any pumpkin could be a winner,” said Wiersema.
As for reports of any colossal pumpkins in the area, Wiersema said that he spoke to a grower in the Devlin area that had one over 500 lbs. three weeks ago, “So it should be bigger than that by now.”
Wiersema said that reports out of Thunder Bay is that former champion Don Cronk’s pumpkins are not doing as well as usual, so the top of the pack may see a new faces this year, but again, “They are so secretive,” emphasized Wiersema.
Two new things have been added to the day long festival and one of them is a pancake breakfast hosted by the Forest Women’s Institute from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
At 9 a.m. the 1st Annual Giant Pumpkin 5 kilometre run/walk will be held. There is a $15 entry fee but all who enter will receive a commemorative t-shirt. So far there are 25 registered.
Wiersema said that the committee’s main interest is growing giant pumpkins, “But any organization that would like to add something to our festival is very welcome.”
Registration of pumpkins begins at 10 a.m. and runs until 1 p.m. Last year there were 51 entries, which was up from the previous year. They are optimistic that number will grow again this year.
The annual community potluck lunch will be held at 12:30-1 p.m. After that weigh-ins will begin and this year to alleviate problems with the scales at last year’s event, they will be using Reg Kaus scale used for weighing hay bales for all pumpkins. Last year the scale they had would not register over 1,000 lbs. something they had never had to deal with before at the event.
Wiersema himself said that he had a good start to the growing season with vines all over doing great. Then in June he thought he might have had a visit from the Rainy River Giant Beaver. All the leaves were eaten off the vine. As it turns out it was the Beaver’s cousins, The Great Groundhog Gang. “I have shot 13 of them so far, but there are lots of them critters this year.”
He has not heard of anyone else having to fight off the hogs, but he said there have been reports of problems with deer chewing up pumpkins here and there.
The Rainy River Farmers’ Market will be holding a special harvest market at the arena in conjunction with the event.
The Rainy River Playschool/Toy Library will be holding kids games with prizes. There is no charge for the games.
The annual Pumpkin Seed Spitting contest will be held outside the arena with prizes for kids, teens and adults.
Other prizes being handed out for pumpkin enthusiasts include, Rookie of the Year, Ugliest Pumpkin, Most Attractive Pumpkin, Best Decorated Pumpkin (three prizes), Oddest Overall Vegetable, Distance Award, Pumpkin Pie and Dessert Contest and Guess the Weight of a Pumpkin Contest.
$2,200 in prizes will be handed out this Saturday. Wiersema said that without the generous support of sponsors they could not continue having a successful event every year. With 51 entries last year at $10 each it is easy to see how supportive the sponsors have been. “We owe them all a debt of gratitude.”
He said the day promises to be a fun filled and exciting one and encourages the public to come out and enjoy it.
Award presentations will take place after the weigh-ins at about 2:30 p.m.
There is no admission charge to the arena.