Record breaking year for Collector Village Pumpkin Festival.

A record crowd in excess of five and a half thousand people flocked to Collector on Sunday for the Annual Pumpkin Festival.  A record pumpkin grown by Ken Ryan and weighing 400 kg won the Goulburn Workers Club sponsored “heaviest pumpkin” competition.  Another local record was set by the Welby Garden Centre with a massive grey pumpkin that weighed 207 kg and won first prize in the grey pumpkin section sponsored by the Gehl Garden Centre.

As has become a feature of the festival, everything imaginable, from pumpkin soup to carved and decorated pumpkins were to be found in record numbers at the festival.  Entries in all other pumpkin sections were up as were the entries for pumpkin scones and pumpkin pies.  Another feature of the festival is the scarecrow building event where children [of all ages] build scarecrows that must have a pumpkin as the head.  Over 60 marvellous creations were built and highly decorated during the course of the day. 

Event coordinator and president of the Collector Village Pumpkin Festival, Gary Poile was very happy with the event.  “Once more we have been blessed with perfect weather for our community’s annual festival” he said. “We had a wonderful day and families came from all over the region to enjoy the atmosphere and activities at this unique festival.  Although I haven’t seen any official figures, I am confident that we will have raised many thousands of dollars that will be used for community projects later in the year.  The committee have done a wonderful job in organising the pumpkin festival and deserve to be congratulated for staging what has now become one of the best annual community events in our regions.”

Full day of activity.

The  Collector Village Pumpkin Festival pumped into life on Sunday morning with a street parade by the Canberra Pipes and Drum Band.  Entertainment on the main stage continued all day long by the well known folk duo of Pat Drummond and Karen Lynne who kept the crowds entertained with their own brand of original and amusing songs.  Entertainment also featured performances by the children from the Collector Public School and the Sing Australia Choir from Goulburn. 

The festival also features a wonderful display of vintage farm machinery by several local associations and complimented by a display of the modern version by Goulburn Farm Machinery.  Several car clubs from across the region also came together to display over thirty vintage and classic cars at the festival. 

Back by popular demand was the cooking demonstration.  Essential Energy, also sponsors of the festival provided a display kitchen that was used by local chefs; Judy Granger and Amy Henderson to demonstrate preparation of some wonderful dishes featuring local produce and of course; pumpkins!

Another feature was an exhibition of handmade quilts by Nicole Annison from “Patch on Bourke” at Goulburn.  The quilts were displayed in the historic St Bartholomew’s Church that made a perfect setting for these unique works of art.  Continuing the religious theme, the Reverend John Barnes performed the “Blessing of the Pumpkins” ceremony on the main stage, acknowledging the role that the Harvest Festival has in the rural community and the uniqueness of life and its wonderful exceptions, such as the giant 400 kg pumpkin that was prominently displayed in Collectors “Pumpkin Square” for the day.

The Collector Village Pumpkin Festival has also become renowned for its astounding array of food, gift and produce stalls with over 80 vendors displaying their wares in the colourful fete stalls that line the streets of the village for the day. Among them were the team from TPB Baking, makers of Goulburn’s famous Bryant’s Pies and also selling pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread and pumpkin scones.  TPB Baking have a close connection with the festival, having been stallholders since the festival started in 2003 and are proud sponsors of the Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Scone cooking competitions. 

With the combination of a huge crowd and perfect weather many stall holders reported a record day with most food vendors running low or even selling out of stock by the end of the day.  Local pumpkin grower, Louise Ryan said that she had sold about two tons of pumpkins during the day.  “This is the first time we have sold pumpkins at the Pumpkin Festival and I didn’t really know what to expect,” she said.  “We have enjoyed being part of the colour and atmosphere of the day and everyone has been so friendly and happy.  We’ve had a great day and we’ll definitely be coming back next year,” Louise said.

The Collector Village Pumpkin Festival is a community event run on the first Sunday in May every year.  The committee wishes to thank all the festival sponsors, supporters and volunteers as well as the many thousands of visitors that help make this event successful.