Three days of food, games and lots and lots of pumpkins drew about 30,000 people to Chatfield Farms Oct. 7-9 for the time-honored Pumpkin Festival.
Six bucks for kids and $8 for adults got pumpkin lovers of all ages access to an assortment of family-friendly activities. And proceeds benefit the Denver Botanic Gardens.
This year, there was something for everyone, according to Chris Hendrickson, a spokesperson for the Denver Botanic Gardens. There were games, face-painting and pony rides for the kids; a corn maze geared toward teens and adults; and beer, wine and moonshine for those lucky enough to have inhabited this fair planet for more than two decades.
And let’s not forget the pumpkins—all eight acres of them. Attendees roamed the patch in search of pumpkins and #perf Instagram opportunities.
And satisfying a crowd roughly the size of the population of Wheat Ridge takes a lot of pumpkins.
The festival typically sells about 20,000 pumpkins throughout the weekend, though the yield at Chatfield farms can vary. Due to weather, some years the festival must outsource their pumpkins, but this year Hendrickson said she expects that Chatfield will have enough to sell pumpkins through next week.
For 28 years, the annual Pumpkin Festival has been showering Littleton with all things autumn, and for 28 years it has grown. Oct. 8 marked the highest attendance Saturday in history.
So what changed this year?
Not much, according to Hendrickson who said the festival has found a mix of attractions that work. But there was one new addition this year: food trucks. The trend brought much more in the way of food to Chatfield Farms.
“We were joking that it's hard to find a hamburger around here,” she said. “It’s hard to find the basics because there is so much interesting food.”
Although they did have the obligatory giant turkey legs.
If you missed out, or just want to recreate that warm fuzzy feeling you got when you mixed moonshine with charity and pumpkins, here's a taste of the festival this year.
Bullriding--for kids.
The giant corn maze at Chatfield Farms was shaped like Chatfield Farms.
Pumpkins.
Pumpkins galore!
Little boys bouncing their little hearts out.
Avanti Winery is a Littleton-based winery that donates to animal rights groups, like the Boston Terrier rescue.
Hundred Days of Shine is another local offering from Monument. The Beez Neez in the middle is 100 proof.
Awwww.
Multimedia business & healthcare reporter Chloe Aiello can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/chlobo_ilo.
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