Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival, this weekend, 10/17-18, 2015

Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival, 2015, October 17-18, 2015, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Main Street, Half Moon Bay, CA. "Celebrate good times... Pumpkin Festival marks 45 years!"

Festive parade dancers

I come to Earth in peace

About, "Autumn is a spectacularly special season on the fertile, scenic coast around Half Moon Bay where the entire Coastside area bursts into a brilliant sea of orange and buzzes with excitement and activity to celebrate its bountiful and beautiful fall harvest.

Champion pumpkin, 1,969-pounds

The dazzling journey is its own reward … the tunnel through Devils Slide is a sight to behold plus the breath-taking views of seaside farm country dotted with vast, rolling fields of orange, scarecrows, barns, and pick-your-own pumpkin patches. It's the perfect time of year and the perfect place to celebrate the beauty and bounty of the fall season and Half Moon Bay does it like nobody else.

The world-famous Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival is the season’s signature event, drawing hordes of visitors to the “World Pumpkin Capital” for an epic festival on historic Main Street. This year’s 45th annual festival will be held on October 17-18 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free".   Schedule of Events.

Related, pumpkin weigh-off, 10/12/15. Miramar Events/Weigh off,  "Steve Daletas, a 55 year old airline pilot from Pleasant Hill, OR, dominated today’s 42nd Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with his 1,969-pound vanilla-colored whopper that clobbered the formidable field of gourd growing greats on a picture-perfect morning in the west coast pumpkin mecca of Half Moon Bay CA."   NBC Bay Area/Peninsula/ Lisa Fernandez, Bob Redell and Josh Keppel, 10/12/15, includes video 2:54 minutes."Oregon Farmer Wins Pumpkin Contest as Gourds Weigh Less in Drought"  "Steve Daletas' pumpkin  weighed 1,969 pounds, which means he'll take home about $11,000 and his wife will get to remodel their kitchen in Pleasant Hill, Oregon, he joked, downplaying the role he had in his big win. "Maybe we were in the right spot," Daletas said, noting that Oregon isn't suffering from the severe drought that California has over the last four years."

Note photographs. Parade dancers (Grupo Folclorico Tonantzin) by Charles Russo #1 from a Half Moon Bay Review/Julia Reis, 10/24/13 article, "Festival proves 'smashing success'".  Out-of-this-world boy  by Charles Russo #4 from the same article.  Champion pumpkin from the related Miramar Events/Weigh off article.

Posted by Kathy Meeh