Maine Pumpkin Festival

With 22,431 Carved Jack-o-lanterns, Camp Sunshine’s Maine Pumpkin Festival Not a World Record, But a New Maine Record – Festival a Huge Success for Camp Sunshine.

It was a beautiful fall day at Camp Sunshine’s Maine Pumpkin Festival on October 4 th, and we were thrilled with the attendance, participation, and results. Though a new world record was not set, a new record for Maine was set with 22,431 lit jack-o-lanterns, exceeding the number previously carved by Maine in 2003 by more than 7,000. In the end, however, it’s not about records, it’s about raising funds and awareness for Camp Sunshine and helping families get through rough times, and the festival helped us achieve all of these goals.

An army of volunteers, young and old from across Maine, gutted, carved, crated, arranged and lit pumpkins throughout the day and into the evening. Truckloads of carved pumpkins also arrived, with Wal-Mart, UPS and Downeast Energy contributing thousands from carving events.

Maine schoolchildren also got into the act. Students at Windham High School carved more than 2,000 pumpkins. Children at the James W. Russell Elementary School in Gray contributed 500 or so, while Albion Elementary School and Fairfield Primary School in Central Maine pitched in with several hundred as well. We even had a pumpkin delivered from an island off the Maine coast – from the Chebeague Island School – which the students had planted, tended and harvested specially for the event.

Pumpkins filled the Cumberland Fairgrounds with orange. Adding to the spectacular display was a 40-foot-tall scaffolding tower filled with jack-o-lanterns (tower built by Boston Ladder & Scaffolding), and an impressive jack-o-lantern house, also filled with jack-o-lanterns, and built by Meyer Development and Perspective Construction Management.

Adding to the fun at the event were a jumbo whoopie pie eating contest and a carving challenge. The whoopie pie contest pitted ten contestants against each other to see who could eat the most in a two minute time span. These pies were the size of a cake. When the start was announced, contestants dove into the jumbo pies head first, and Camp Sunshine’s Screenprinter and friend Bob Baiguy took home the victory, and a stomach full of sugar and calories.

Participating in the carving challenge were teams from Downeast Energy, Axon Design and Marketing, MacDonald Page, a Camp Sunshine family team (sponsored by Preti Flaherty of Portland), and a Camp Sunshine staff team (sponsored by HVAC Services of Westbrook). The carving challenge was sponsored by Downeast Energy, who matched all team fees and donations. Teams each started with 10 minutes of carving time, with some teams earning a few extra minutes for monies raised. Naturally, the very skilled and fast Camp Sunshine staff team took home the victory with 82 pumpkins carved in 12 minutes. In second and third place was Axon with 69 pumpkins carved in 11 minutes, and Downeast Energy with 62 carved in 10 minutes, respectively. MacDonald Page took home the 4 th place finish with 57 carved gourds, with the Camp Sunshine family team finishing in 5 th place with 50.

At the end of the day, after all the pumpkins were carved, whoopee pies were eaten, and fun was had, the final pumpkin count was tallied and confirmed by the South Portland accounting firm Macdonald Page & Co. BBI Waste then hauled the carved pumpkins to Pineland Farms in New Gloucester to be composted.

Hancock Lumber, a sixth generation family owned business established in Maine in 1848, served as the lead sponsor of the event. We would like to extend a hearty thanks to Kevin Hancock and his team at Hancock Lumber for their support, as well as to the entire Hancock family for their support of Camp Sunshine throughout the years.

In addition to Hancock Lumber, we would also like to thank our friends at Cumberland Farmers Club for their fine and generous support, and the Camp Sunshine staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly to make this event a success. Thanks also to Village Candle, Renys, MacDonald Page, Downeast Energy, New Penn Trucking and Premier Trailer Leasing, and all of our other sponsors for helping us make this event a success. For a complete list of sponsors, please visit our sponsors page.