Pumpkins. (BlackburnNews.com photo by Dave Dentinger)Pumpkins. (BlackburnNews.com photo by Dave Dentinger)
Chatham

Pumpkinfest Raises Funds And Fun

Wallaceburg's first-ever Pumpkinfest appears to have been a smashing success.

Pumpkinfest chairman Eric Hancock says they were only expecting about 1-thousand people would show up on Saturday, so they were caught a little of guard when upwards of 2,000 people came out.

"We had 200 pumpkins for the kids and by the early afternoon they were all gone," says Hancock. "We probably should have had 400, so that's what we're going to take a look at next year."

The event raised $5,500 for cystic fibrosis and also drew a number of competitors for a giant vegetable-growing contest, which turned out to be a big hit.

"We had 15 entries this year and the feedback we're getting from competitors is that we ran an excellent event and they're going to spread the word, so hopefully next year we have even more," says Hancock.

The winning pumpkin weighed in at 1,137lbs with several others also weighing in at over 1,000lbs.

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Scoreboard, June 26

The Toronto Blue Jays dropped their third in a row Thursday, 6-5 to the visiting Texas Rangers, and the Detroit Tigers suffered a 2-1 loss to Houston.