Spalding Pumpkin Festival to make its return next month

The Spalding Pumpkin Festival is set to make its return to town on Saturday 12 October, the annual event celebrates South Holland’s long-standing harvest and horticulture traditions with a fantastic selection of activities for local people to enjoy, including: live entertainment, food and gift stalls, games, arts and crafts.

Running from 11am until 3pm in Spalding town centre, the event will run alongside Spalding’s regular Saturday market, our ever-popular regular traders will be joined by specialist artisan stallholders selling a range of seasonal-themed food, drinks and gifts.

Residents can enjoy a stroll down 'Pumpkin Street' to see the incredible pumpkin-inspired sculptures on display from local artist Jonathan Nichols, before heading over to the main stage for live entertainment, which will include ‘Anna’ from Frozen and the cast of this year’s pantomime: Snow White.

Tickets for the South Holland Centre’s much anticipated pantomime are available on the website: www.southhollandcentre.co.uk.

The festivities will continue with a vintage carousel ride, an autumn shadow booth, facepainting and balloon modelling coupled with a host of street entertainment including a golden harvest fairy stilt walker and a harvest-themed fancy dress competition, which will be held on stage at 12:30pm.

The Council’s Communities team have also organised a Scarecrow Trail, planned to run over October half term, from Saturday 12 October until Sunday 27 October. Explore Spalding town centre and locate all seven friendly scarecrows who have been resting in various shop windows after their long summer working in the fields.

A seasonal word will be revealed, which can be emailed to community@sholland.gov.uk for the chance of winning a lovely prize.

Ayscoughfee Hall Museum will be holding their own Autumn Trail, held throughout the whole of October. Scour the Hall in search of ‘small autumn scenes’, free for all but watch out for wildcards!

Broad Street Methodist Church will also join the town’s horticultural festivities, running another fantastic free arts and crafts session alongside a relaxing coffee morning between 10am and 2pm.

Meanwhile, Spalding Library will be combining the Pumpkin Festival with National Libraries Week’s (Monday 7 October till Sunday 13 October) ‘Go Green’ theme. From 10am till 12pm residents are invited to cress pumpkin heads and take part in a pumpkin picture hunt.

Councillor Gary Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Community Development, said: “The Pumpkin Festival is always a very popular event and I have no doubt this year will the same, not only does the event offer a great day out for local families, it helps to preserve and celebrate our proud history of horticulture and harvest.

“The team have done a fantastic job behind the scenes getting everything ready, there is definitely something for everyone to come and enjoy, so mark it on your calendars and I look forward to seeing as many people in Spalding as possible on Saturday 12 October!”

There will be a road closure in place for Spalding's Market Place, Hall Place, Sheep Market and Gore Lane on Saturday 12 October from 7am until 5pm for the event to take place. The Sheep Market car park will be closed from 5pm on Friday 11 October until 5pm Saturday 12 October.

For more information please follow SHDC_ Communities on Facebook or visit https://www.sholland.gov.uk/PumpkinFestival2024.