09/05/2026
Okay y’all, IT IS FINALLY TIME TO TALK ABOUT THE PUMPKIN GLOW GARDEN.
I have been saying basically all year that we were bringing it back, and now we are officially close enough that you need to start thinking about what the heck you are going to carve.
Last year, y’all showed up and out and exceeded every one of my expectations and wildest dreams. Seeing that whole garden lit up together was genuinely one of the coolest things that I've ever had a hand in putting together. So naturally, we have to do it again.
This year we’re switching up the categories a little bit:
🎃Prettiest Pumpkin in the Patch
The one that is just plain beautiful. Pretty carving, pretty details, pretty colors, whatever makes people stop and go, “Ohhhh, I love that one.”
🎃Most Ridiculous Pumpkin in the Patch
This is your permission to be completely unserious. Weird, silly, over-the-top, chaotic, absurd. If people look at it and say, “What in the world is happening here?” you’re probably doing it right.
🎃Scariest Pumpkin in the Patch
Creepy, spooky, eerie, unsettling. Give us the one you would maybe not want sitting at the end of your hallway at night.
🎃And then we have Best of Glow, which is a special one this year.
On Friday night, October 16, we’re going to light the whole garden up for a little after-dark preview, and that will be the ONLY time you can vote for Best of Glow. Because obviously some pumpkins just hit different when the lights go down.
Then everything will be back out for the Old Town Fall Festival on Saturday, October 17. We’ll vote on the other three categories all day, light the garden back up around dusk, announce all four winners, and then roll right into our spooky old movie night.
And yes, there will be really good prizes again. Last year, every winner took home a prize package worth more than $400, and we’re already working on making this year’s prizes just as fun.
You do not have to be some kind of professional pumpkin-carving wizard. Please do not overthink it. Make something pretty. Make something ridiculous. Make something horrifying. Let your kid make a weird little pumpkin. Go completely off the rails. That is the fun of it.
So anyway, this is me officially telling you: mark your calendars and start dreaming up your great pumpkin idea now.
The Pumpkin Glow Garden is coming back, and I am so excited to see what y’all put in it this year.
