The Wallaceburg Kinsmen are shifting gears this year and changing up their signature event.
The local club has axed their annual Ribfest, and will instead hold a one-day Pumpkinfest on September 26.
“It is meant to be a family event. We are hoping to attract people of all ages,” Eric Hancock, a Wallaceburg Kinsmen member and the event organizer, told the Sydenham Current.
Hancock said a local group of farmers used to run their own giant vegetable growers competition towards Port Lambton each year.
“It got too big for them so they came to our club back in September and asked that we take it on and we agreed to do it. You can’t do the throwers anymore because of insurance. They just thought it was too much for them now and we thought we would take this on,” he said.
“So now the focus is that we are going to have a giant vegetable growers competition. So this is a sanctioned worldwide event. We are hoping to have pumpkins in the range of 1,000 to 1,500 lbs. and other large vegetables there.”
Hancock said Pumpkinfest will be less expensive to run, in comparison to Ribfest, which was held for three straight years at the back of the Wallaceburg Kinsmen Centre.
“We decided that Ribfest was just too labour intensive for us for three days. We are a very small club. We only have about 15 active members and it was just too much for us. So we figured for one day we can beat ourselves up. The Ribfest became a very expensive thing to run because of the cost of hooking up a lot of the utilities.”
Hancock said a variety of other events and activities will be held in conjunction with their inaugural Pumpkinfest at the Wallaceburg Kinsmen Centre grounds.
“We start in the morning at 9:30 a.m. with a pancake breakfast. We have partnered with one of the local churches so they get some benefit in terms of raising a little bit of money. That runs from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.”
The growers competition itself will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“In the afternoon we are going to have a barbecue which is going to be run by our Club,” Hancock said.
“We are having a dinner dance and silent auction in the evening and the proceeds for the silent auction is going to support cystic fibrosis which is the Kinsmen national charity.”
He said during the day we are going to have all kids of events, including: a children’s play zone, face painting, pumpkin decorating contest, balloons.
“Really the goal is to have something where parents or grandparents and their kids or grand kids can come out and have some fun,” he said.
A craft fair will be taking place during the day in the main hall, which will be run by the Wallaceburg Skating Club.
“We are trying to do something that is going to help a lot of different organizations, not just our club,” Hancock said.
The group is going to have a number of information booths, a chiropractor coming in, a physio therapist among others.
Another feature they are holding for the kids is a novice sunflower growing competition
“This is for children ages eight to 12,” he said. “They grow a sunflower in the back yard and they bring it September 26 and the child with the biggest sunflower and that is the diameter, will win an award.”
For the children who want to register for the Sunflower contest, they can register by calling 519-626-9753 or e-mailing eeh101416@gmail.com.
“We will accept registration until the middle of June. If they are going to plant the sunflower they should probably get it in the ground in early June so they can get as big a flower as possible.
Hancock said he left Wallaceburg about 40 years ago and just returned last year.
“We really want to do something to bring the rural and urban community to reconnect with each other. I think that a lot of people in town have never experienced what it means to be a farmer or work in the agricultural business. Hopefully we can bring those two together so they can gain an appreciation for what they do. It is a rich culture and they are a big part of our economic make up in the area.”
Hancock said all the details are still coming together and they do have CIBC with Gundy Seabrook Group on as a corporate sponsor.
“We are still dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, but its coming together very well,” he said.
“We would like to get this to be even bigger and better in the years to come. We are hooping this becomes an annual event in Wallaceburg and for the surrounding area.”
In terms of attendance, Hancock said he is not sure what to expect.
“We hope for 2,500 people but the thing is we may have 1,000, we could have 12,000. We have no idea what to expect. If we do well maybe in year it will get bigger.”
Hancok added: “The intent is to really make this a day that at the end of the day when people go home they say ‘what a great day’ and ‘it’s really great to live in the town of Wallaceburg.’ My personal hope is that people will appreciate what this town has to offer.”
