Cooler weather, festivals and pumpkin flavored things all make for a special time in the Carolinas. We have several Pumpkin festivals. 2017 marked the 21st annual pumpkin festival in Elkin NC which is held on the fourth Saturday in September. This year Bruce Burchette is the winner of the largest pumpkin with his 1,328 lb. pumpkin.
As is turns out The Town of Franklin NC also has its 21st Annual PumpkinFest on Saturday October 21. This festival features a lot of fun including the Pumpkin Roll, which is a contest where you want your pumpkin to roll faster than your fellow pumpkin rollers.
Statesville, NC celebrates PumpkinFest in November with among other things a pumpkin pie eating contest.
What list would be complete without Pumpkin Town, SC who celebrates with the annual Pumpkin Festival mid-October. They have been going for 39 years. I ask Buddy Cox, the Festival Chairman if the Pumpkin Festival was their largest event of the year. “It’s the event of the year” he said. Pumpkin Town is a small place with about 500 people living within a mile of the sign post; however, on festival day approximately 35,000 people show up. The event is held at and around the Oolenoy Community Building.
The Parade starts off at the Pumpkin Town General store. There is BBQ, Pies and other tasty treats. There is also an abundance of entertainment including Bluegrass, Country, Gospel and clogging.
It’s a great up-state country SC event that celebrates pumpkins, fall and community. If Charlie Brown lived nearby he just might get his giant pumpkin there. I think Bruce Burchett’s 1328lbs Elkin pumpkin would be too large for Charlie Brown; however, I did not confirm that information with Charlie Browns people.
On another note, I stopped by the post office to mail a few letters and pick up a few stamps. I like mailing letters and note cards. I realize that some people think it’s a waste to send a letter when you can send an email. I disagree with this notion, it’s good to hand write letters and notes, it helps to keep your brain more active. I also like writing a column that appears in ink on paper. It’s okay with me if the column appears online after the print version in the local newspaper. I don’t mind a little ink stain when I am reading the paper.
Katie Racine is a US Post Office Window Clerk and she always has a smile to share and she knows her stamps for sure. On a recent visit I was in hopes of securing a few more of the eclipse stamps, there was however none available. Katie’s talks of Pluto enticed me and before long we were engaged in a conversation about the Dwarf Planet and the special four stamp collection that features two Pluto Stamps and two New Horizons stamps. It was NASA’s New Horizons that secured the up close non- blurry images of Pluto.
I ask Katie, if she were to receive a call from James T. Kirk and he were to ask her to join a discovery voyage to Pluto, would she go? To which she said, “It would need to be paid leave, but yes I would go”.
If Katie goes I hope she brings pictures, as for me, I think I’ll stay here in the Carolinas and visit a few more festivals and people and see if I can discover the secret to growing the biggest pumpkins. I’ll for sure be dropping off a few more letters and sending in my column and producing segments about the wonders of the Carolinas.
