Unlike their pumpkin brethren in neighboring towns, Damariscotta pumpkins don’t quietly deflate on the front porch of a family home. Instead, they fly. They explode. And they float.

The annual Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta, which runs today through Oct. 11 in Damariscotta, Newcastle and Nobleboro, elevates pumpkin appreciation to an entirely new level. Think pumpkins dropping from a 200-foot crane onto a decommissioned car and an air cannon that’s capable of chucking — or chunking — a pumpkin more than a mile.

This ain’t your nana’s pumpkin festival — though she’ll still find plenty to enjoy amid the fall colors on Main Street.

“It’s one of the few things around here where it’s really local and people from away that make this stuff happen,” said Phyllis Guss, Pumpkinfest volunteer in charge of communications. “Funds are raised for charity, which is wonderful, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Plenty of pumpkins will be put to use during the event, including 47 that will find their way into the hands of local artists and be carved, painted, decorated and displayed in shop fronts and along the main roads.

Traditional pumpkin festival staples will be on hand, like the pumpkin carving on Friday and Saturday, the pumpkin dessert contest on Saturday morning and the giant pumpkin parade on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. The pumpkin pie-eating contests — a “must-have” for any fall festival — take place right after the parade.

The pumpkin carving goes below sea level at 3 p.m. in Damariscotta Harbor when divers dip below the surface to create their jack-o-lanterns. A remotely operated underwater vehicle will keep watch and allow bystanders to see what’s happening. Some folks might even get the chance to control the ROV themselves.

After the sun sets on Saturday and the brisk winds start shuttling dry leaves along dark streets, story lovers can head to Skidompha Library for Fireside Tales, a staged reading of Hawthorne, Poe and Dickinson, at 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 10 boasts a pumpkin pancake breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. at the American Legion Hall, and all weekend long there will be music, games for the kids and pumpkin-centric grub from area restaurants.

The classic festival diversions are always an autumn hit. The 21st-century additions, on the other hand, are messier, more dangerous and a good deal weirder. Basically, they’re a pumpkinload of fun.

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, national champion pumpkin chunkers The Big 10 Inch bring their machine to Trescott’s Farm on Great Salt Bay in Nobleboro. Their 100-foot air gun has been known to hurl a 10-pound pumpkin more than a mile. This year, they’re being challenged by a group of pumpkin chunkers from New Hampshire and their sturdy air gun, The American Chunker. The two teams compete until noon. Area fowl should take note.

On Oct. 10, the pumpkin catapult comes out to play from 9 a.m. to noon, also at Trescott’s Farm. “These guys from Maine built it in the garage with mattress springs,” said Guss. “We go from these high-tech air guns to a catapult from the Middle Ages.” The catapult throws “small guys,” typically pumpkins 5 to 10 pounds. The pumpkin chunkers are also back, this time going for targets.

Of course, when a pumpkin is pushing 600 pounds and has long outgrown any catapulting potential, it’s off to the regatta.

The annual boat race is a festival highlight — and the impetus for the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest. This year the races kick off around 11 a.m. Oct. 10, tide depending, and include two pumpkin boat categories: paddle boats and motorized boats.

Huge pumpkins — anywhere from 450 to 800 pounds — are hollowed out for the event. Paddle boaters need little more than to climb in with a paddle (which may not be as easy as it sounds). Motorized boats require a little more construction and are affixed with a 2.5- to 6-horsepower outboard motor held up by a piece of construction that looks like a toilet seat.

The boats are launched in Damariscotta Harbor with much applause, pumpkin pride and a little prayer.

On Oct. 11, the festival’s final day is celebrated with a bit of pumpkin destruction, courtesy of that 200-foot crane. The pumpkin drop starts at 10 a.m. at the Damariscotta River Association’s Round Top Farm on Main Street. Last year’s crane did impressive work with only 150 feet. With another 50 feet this year, “I guess that means more splat,” said Guss.

The festival is also selling raffle tickets for the honor to “pull the cord” that unleashes the pumpkin. And before it plummets to earth and explodes in a firework of seeds and orange pulp, it’s no doubt grateful for the chance to go out with a bang. Not many pumpkins can say that.

Staff Writer Shannon Bryan can be contacted at 791-6333 or at:

sbryan@mainetoday.com

 

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