Leader of the Patch

     Live bands, freshly baked apple turnovers, and over 29,000 pumpkins is what the city of Keene expects to see each year when the annual Pumpkin festival takes place. A day’s worth of trying all the different kinds of food, seeing people from all over the country, and joining in on numerous festivities.

    This festival has become popularly-known throughout the nation and is enjoyed by everyone.  The question is: how did this day long festival begin?

    Back in October of 1991, there was a group of people who were concerned about Keene’s downtown shops, since businesses were not doing so well, who were trying to figure out a beneficial idea to increase the amount of sales again. 

    In order for people to be interested in going downtown, the team put together a fall festival that would promote the shops and get everything back up and running.
After the first Harvest festival, many people were satisfied with the event planned which is why each year it continued.

    This year Keene will be celebrating its 19th pumpkin festival in which all of the promotions of different companies will continue. Not only will they be keeping their businesses open to the public but they will also provide an extremely friendly environment by handing out flyers, greeting people, and handing out the foam pumpkin hats.

    All of the hard work and dedication that is put into lighting up downtown Keene with the creatively carved pumpkins is done by many community members, but we owe Suzanne Woodward, the executive director of Center Stage, our appreciation.

    Woodward is a familiar name to Keene State College considering she used to plan events that would take place on campus until she retired. Destined to follow her career path of being an event coordinator she applied for the position to be the head honcho in planning Keene’s biggest event of the year.

    Once she received the terrific news, she began planning for the event immediately.  Starting her 5th year as the executive coordinator, she knew she had what it takes to plan a well put on event. 

    The preliminary planning starts in January by looking for sponsors to donate to the festival along with getting involved with the community. Once enough money is raised, the next step is to look for vendors willing to participate in the days events. Typically, there is a search for about 100 vendors who are willing to bake delicious foods, sell crafts, and have games.

    Raising the money, organizing where all the vendors will be on Main Street, and taking care of the tree lighting and placing of the banners all fall under Woodward’s job description.  From January until the day of the festival, planning for this one day is undergo. And to think, working all year to plan an event for only one day is serious commitment.

    Everything ends up running smoothly each year and there have been little to no changes as years go by.  The only difference in Pumpkin Festival this year is there are two less pumpkin towers than the previous years.

    “We averaged out spending about $200,000 on the event which is equivalent to years before,” Woodward said.

    “I absolutely love the job and have so much fun during the planning process,” said Woodward. “Although everything going on can sometimes be a bit chaotic, I rarely ever get stressed out.”

    To see the happiness, unity of the community and enjoyment people have on this one day is enough satisfaction for Suzanne Woodward to thoroughly enjoy her job.

     What more could you ask for then great food, performances, and a perfect day in downtown Keene? 

Ashlee Car can be contacted at acarr@keeneequinox.com.