2023 DATE: September 22-23, 2023
This post documents my experience on September 25, 2010.
By the time I hit my 50th festival this year, I thought to myself, “I really should contact the Guinness Book of World Records. I’ll bet I’ve been to more festivals in one year than anyone else has in the world…ever.”
And, in my heart, I know I’m right. I mean, who would go to this many festivals?
But the difficulty of getting in the Guinness Book doesn’t lie so much in beating old records; the difficulty is getting Guinness to create/accept a new world record category. They only have so much book space, after all.
Still I tried through their website, hoping for the best, but my request was rejected a few weeks later.
So, as I drove into New Bremen, once again setting a higher number of my ignored festival world record…
…just as the New Bremen Pumpkinfest was working on a world record of their own.
Put on by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers, the Pumpkinfest’s fifth annual weigh-in unfortunately didn’t bring about any new world records this year…
…but it did bring in some huge pumpkins.
And that’s not all it brought.
Even though the festival was short (1.5 days) and pretty small, it gave pumpkin-loving festival goers more than they could ever ask for.
There was only one food vendor I saw (OK, I would ask for more of that) – hence the incredibly long line…
…but they did have pumpkin brats and they smelled great.
In the pavilion…
…or the OSU game…
…you would have noticed the locally-made Wooden Shoe Pumpkin Ale…
…the pumpkin bread and rolls (actually the rolls sold out) from nearby Kettlersville…
…and a bunch of Pumpkinfest fans.
Outside, the kids were having pumpkin fun through games like…
…the Pumpkin Pond and the Pumpkin Walk.
And then there was…
…the Chicken Chuckin’ Competition.
Here, kids threw rubber chickens, as the name implies…
…until a chicken-chucking child was chosen (sorry).
Near the game area and next to the pavilion, I noticed a crowd circling a nearby building…
…where people stared into the darkness under the aluminum foil.
If you look closely (or even click on the picture for a bigger view)…
…you may notice a large pumpkin pie in there.
Set to break their 2005 world record (2,020 lbs), the festival chefs were having a problem with this pie, having pulled it out too soon. The pie was originally supposed to come out at 5, but I took this picture around 5:20 and it still had to cool afterward before serving.
20 minutes later, it was still there.
I couldn’t wait any longer.
I went across the canal…
…to the inconveniently placed vendors…
…and bought some locally grown produce before moving on to the next festival.
Sometime later, that pie would be served, but only after weighing in at 3,699 pounds – setting a new world record.
Maybe, if I’m lucky, they’ll read this blog and pass it on to Guinness for me. Being as they keep getting in that book for the pies, perhaps their pull will get me in too!