The time for mutant-sized pumpkins and seed-spitting contests has arrived once again with the annual Pilger Pumpkin Festival to be held on September 28.
"Last year we had around 800 people show up," said Roman Bieringer, chairperson of board for the pumpkin festival. "The festival keeps growing. We have people from every corner of Saskatchewan showing up."
Previous years have seen people winning the contest with massive pumpkins weighing over 500 pounds. Beiringer isn't sure if it'll turn out so well this time around.
"It hasn't been a good year," he said. "Too much rain and not enough sun until now the pumpkins didn't have a good start. Some of us don't even have pumpkins."
Beiringer, however, isn't too concerned about the contest. According to him, you can never tell what you'll get until the actual day.
"Some people like to keep it a secret," he said. "They don't want others to know how big their pumpkins have grown."
Both Beiringer and his colleague, Madeline Schmitz, will be busy up until the festival day, as they have quite a few activities planned for this year.
"We like to make things a bit different every year," said Schmitz, who's secretary treasurer for the festival. "This year we have face painting, pie-baking, wagon rides, seed spitting contest and an oddly shaped vegetables display."
Schmitz said anyone with oddly shaped vegetables is encouraged to bring it to the festival to be put on display.
Winners of the "Beauty Scenes" and "Pumpkin Related" photography contest will also be on display, so everyone is invited to submit their photos to the Pilger Library.
The festival will start at 2 p.m. and end with fireworks at dusk.
The festival will be held at Pilger Hall and the surrounding yard. Entrance fee for adults is $12 and $5 for children seven to 12. Children six and under can enter for free. Money raised by the festival will go to various charities.
