Local resident encourages locals to attend the Pumpkin Paddle
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Large pumpkin growers from around the state are preparing for the Great Pumpkin Paddle on Long Pond in Rutland, which was a great success last year. Westminster resident Karyn Madden was one this year's organizers paddle her own pumpkin across the pond last year. FILE PHOTO

Westminster resident Karyn Madden is still trying to decide whether she will be getting into a giant pumpkin and paddling it across Long Pond in Rutland this year or if she will only be serving to help organize the second annual Great Pumpkin Paddle.

Madden, who is friends with the Pumpkin Paddle's founder Craig Fitzgerald, is still thinking about the October event.

"I rode last year. I'm not sure this year," she said. "It is the hardest thing every. It is very, very hard to control. If it is not perfectly round it goes where it wants."

Madden said it was a lot of fun though and she thought it was great to middle a pumpkin weighing hundreds of pounds across the body of water.

"It is fun," she said. "It's slimy."

The Second Massachusetts Pumpkin Paddle is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 14, at noon on the Long Pond in Rutland, which is at the intersection of routes 122 and 122A.

Paddlers prepare for last year's pumpkin race. All area families are invited to watch area residents paddle their way across Long Pond in Rutland. FILE PHOTO

The free event will include music by DJ Scotty P of Mega Jam Productions, emcee Hank Stolz of WCRN Radio, concessions by the Rutland Lions Club, raffles, a giant pumpkin seed give-away, kids activities, and the pumpkin boats races.

She said the event is very family focused and that it is appropriate for kids of all ages.

"We are looking for people to come out and enjoy the day," Madden said.

The first year Fitzgerald paddled himself across the pond and got some local coverage of the event. He had grown the giant pumpkin across the pond after wondering what to do with the pumpkin he had grown to compete in a weigh-off.

"I had grown the giant pumpkin in my yard," he said.

And after the weigh off he said he decided "there must be something else I can do with it."

He found the concept of the Great Pumpkin Paddle on the Internet and decided that "would be a great use" for the pumpkin sitting in his yard.

"I hollowed it out in my front yard," he said. "People saw it and loved it. We thought maybe we can make this into an annual event."

"We were hoping to get 100 to 150 people there," he said. "We had close to 1,000 people there by one o'clock."

This year the group is hoping to get 1,500 people.

Fitzgerald had Madden participate because he knew she was a good competitor and "I knew she would want to."

This year the group is adding food to the music and raffle events that added a festive air to the event last year.

The paddlers have been picked from large pumpkin growers across the state, including Billerica and Oakham, and are limited to those who have been selected.

"Anyone who is able to grow a giant pumpkin is able to paddle," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said that is harder then a canoe race to plan because at any point before a pumpkin is picked from the vine it can have animals eat or burrow into it, the plant can rot, or soft spots can develop and the pumpkin can crack.

"We take a lot of care in protecting them," he said. "My pumpkin is up to 780 pounds this year."

Fitzgerald said it is not like growing an average pumpkin. And in the middle of the growing season - mid-July - the plant can grow 20 to 30 pounds a day.

The care of large pumpkins is different than the care for most pumpkin patches because of the care it takes to focus on one pumpkin.

"You are actually very lucky if you can bring a pumpkin to be big enough to weigh off," he said.

The children attending the event will have the chance sit in some of the large hollowed out pumpkins, Fitzgerald said.