Arboretum Set to Host Annual Pumpkin Festival

Story posted October 7, 2019 in CommRadio, News by Gillian Silbiger

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - This past weekend, the Arboretum at Penn State looked a little different than usual. Pumpkin and gourd displays could be seen popping up all around.

The new decorations call for one thing: the arboretum’s annual pumpkin festival.

On Sunday, the arboretum had its first big event of the annual pumpkin festival, the big pumpkin give away.

Thousands of pumpkins are grown at Penn State’s research farm and are given away for free. The only price to pay is a promise of carving the pumpkins and bringing them back for the jack-o-lanterns contest, which will be held next weekend.

The director of horticulture and curator at the arboretum, Shari Edelson, explains how many pumpkins can be expected at the festival.

“We are giving away a little over a thousand pumpkins today so we’ll have a thousand people here,” Edelson said. “All these pumpkins that you see will be gone by 3 p.m.”

This will be the 11th year that the pumpkin festival is being held. Edelson says to expect a lot of people at the festival next week.

“At the festival, we usually get around a 10 thousand people,” Edelson said.

The festival will take place on Friday, Oct. 11, and Saturday, Oct. 12.

 

Gillian Silbiger is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email gbs5194@psu.edu.