The Milford Pumpkin Festival which occurred on the weekend of October 11th, 2013 is an event most people around the Milford, NH, area look forward to. The festival may not contain as many pumpkins as the Keene Pumpkin Festival, which this year will be held on the weekend of October 18th , but still the pumpkin theme is in the air. At the Milford Pumpkin Festival, parents enjoy bringing their kids to pumpkin-decorating booths and there is even a pumpkin launch. The launch consists of a trebuchet-like machine that throws pumpkins into the Souhegan River, which goes through downtown Milford, in hopes to hit a floating stuffed scarecrow in the middle of the river. The Milford Pumpkin Festival prides itself on its rides and activity booths more than the pumpkins themselves.

Vincent Riel, a resident of Keene and grandfather of Mackenzie Riel, ‘14, has attended the Keene Festival every year. Vincent says “There are lots of pros and cons about the Pumpkin Festival, but from my perspective, the pros outnumber the cons. When it began some years ago, it was really a hometown, downtown festival… After Keene won first place in the Guinness Book of Record for the most lighted jack lanterns in one place, the festival really took off.” He talks about how the festival is based on the pumpkins themselves and how creative people can be with pumpkins.

Its is hard to compare the two festivals because even though they like to identify themselves as “Pumpkin Festivals,” they are quite different from one another . The Milford Pumpkin Festival associates with a carnival with an underlying theme of pumpkins, while the Keene Pumpkin Festival focus strongly on pumpkins and all pumpkins. Everywhere you look you will see loads of people that carved pumpkins and put theme on display, like artwork. Either one you go to you will get a different experience.