Pumpkins, Street Dances, and Beer Tastings...OH MY!

I love pumpkins.  If you asked me what my favorite part about fall is, it would be, hands down, pumpkins.  I love carving them, eating them, dressing my dog up like them and even drinking them in the form of pumpkin beer and pumpkin lattes. I currently have three kinds of pumpkin beer, pumpkin tea, pumpkin ravioli and pumpkin granola bars stocked in my kitchen…but I don’t have a problem … I could stop at any time …

Anyways, when I first moved to Stillwater and learned of Harvest Fest, and all things pumpkin that happen during it, my heart skipped a beat. Then when I found out it supports local charities, including one of my favorites, Valley Outreach, I cleared my schedule and marked my calendar with a giant pumpkin, covering this Friday and Saturday. 

You might be thinking, “But Katie! We just had a big art fair last weekend!” To which I say, true, but let’s just think for a minute on how lucky us Stillwaterites…Stillwaterians….(whatever, you get the point!) are to have such fun community events, celebrations and festivals. I know we’re all slightly disjointed over a certain “festival” that takes place during July and rhymes with “Schmumberjack Days”, but how cool is it that we can rally together time after time and reclaim downtown festivals with something that’s fun, family-friendly, and where you don’t have to worry about some drunk shirtless guy relieving himself on your lawn or throwing up on your car?! 

Harvest fest is the perfect example of a fun, family-friendly, local festival, and I plan to take in every second of it. I’ll be kicking up my heels at the street dance on Friday, working the beer and wine tent all day Saturday, and collecting money during the pumpkin weigh-off at 4:30 on Saturday. Not to mention cheering on the racers at the pumpkin regatta, watching in awe as a giant pumpkin drops from the sky, and enjoying the beautiful weather in a beautiful town, on a beautiful pumpkiny weekend.

As I said before, some of the proceeds go to Valley Outreach, which supplies basic needs to local people, such as food, clothing, household essentials and emergency financial assistance.

You can find out more at www.ValleyOutreachmn.org. If you’re not as into pumpkins as I am, at least come to support your local food shelf, who needs us now more than ever. Think about this as you’re checking out the pumpkins: Last year, the world-record pumpkin was 1,810.5 pounds.

In their last fiscal year, (October 1, 2010 September 30, 2011), the food shelf gave away 484,095 pounds of food to hungry families in need in the Stillwater School District.  That’s 267 giant pumpkins!

I have to say a big thanks to Cassie McLemore, Chuck Dougherty, Scott Zahren, and Corey Buettner for making sure that Harvest Fest happened again this year.   Did you know that they are also the same group that made sure Summer Tuesdays stayed downtown?! I’ll definitely be frequenting their establishments (Northern Vineyards, Water Street Inn, Alesci Furniture Gallery, and Leo’s Grill & Malt Shop), as a big thank you for helping me celebrate my love of pumpkins, and I hope you do too!

So, come one, come all, to downtown Stillwater for Harvest Fest this weekend.  Support your community, your food shelf, and giant pumpkins. Oh, and stop by the beer and wine tent and say hi to me!