LAST UPDATED 10/13/2009

I've missed the Milford Pumpkin Festival once or twice (including last year) due to other commitments.  So I was thrilled to discover that this year the date for the festival was wide open, with regard to my schedule.

I quickly contacted the event planners to see if they would be interested in having me set up shop on the Oval in Milford, NH to spend the day just carving pumpkins for later display at the pumpkin lighting.  They were thrilled to hear from me but weren't sure if I was going to attend so they made arrangements with the local Destination Imagination  (DI) group to set up a booth and have kids carve pumpkins for a small donation.  They invited me to join up with them

When I contacted Sandra about joining up with her she was excited and plans were set.  I showed up at 8am and shortly after Sandra appeared and we set up our double booth.  Knowing I had a lot of work ahead of me ((I wanted at least 6 pumpkins carved), I got right to work.  Two of the pumpkins I was carving I was donating to DI for them to raffle off.

In all, I did get 6 pumpkins carved.  2 for donation, another I gave as a gift and a 4th, also a gift, for a local merchant (every year I pick 2-3 local merchants that I do business with, and I carve them a pumpkin with their company logo on it.  

On the left is the photo album.  I hope to get more pumpkins carved and to update this album throughout the Halloween season, so keep watch!

If you see a photo that interests you, and you would like a high resolution copy, feel free to send me email and, time permitting, I will email a copy to you.  These high resolution images are around 3496 X 2592 pixels, jpeg compressed and are about 3MB in size.  Family and friends get precedence of my time when requesting high res copies.  In all cases, the image is provided for personal use only (no businesses without prior written permission from Jim Flis) and any use must provide recognition of myself as the carver and the photographer.

To view the images, just click on the thumbnail image on the left.  Use your browser BACK button to return to this index.   The images are about 30KB - 40KB and will take a few seconds to load.

ENJOY!

	I was invited to visit with the special needs class at Merrimack and was graciously met by the most wonderful class of kids and teachers!  I spent the better part of an hour showing them this fun and exciting pumpkin carving technique.
	The end result was this pumpkin, which I donated to the class so that they would have the best looking pumpkin in the school!
	I also had a surprise for them as we turned out the lights and I turned around these other pumpkins so that they could see a wide array of interesting pumpkin designs
	I carved this pumpkin for Kathy.  She's my sweetie :)
	My first pumpkin of the day.  Every year I select a couple of local merchants that I do business with and I carve them a pumpkin.  This year it was DW Pizzeria.  Later this week I will be doing a couple of others.
	Our booth at the Milford Pumpkin Festival.  I joined forces with Destination Imagination for a day of New England festival fun!
	Here is Sandra, on the right, in front of the DI display booth
	Some of the huge pumpkins here for final judging.
	Three more.  These monsters are gigantic!
	I love the Milford pumpkin festival.  It truly reflects New England values and fun
	An example of the growing crowd, looking out from the Oval towards the food vendors.
	Looking IN toward the center of the Oval you can see the growing crowd.  It was wall to wall people from 10am through past 10pm.
	My booth after getting the first two pumpkins carved.  That loon pumpkin inside the box (makeshift dark room...) was one of the two pumpkins I donated to Destination Imagination
	Every hour, from 10am till close, we had a new musical act.  This guy (I don't know his name) began with "Here comes some music written before "volume" became an instrument".  His music was VERY good.  The bandstand was only about 30 feet from my booth, so we were able to enjoy the great music all day long
	Even the very young enjoyed the music, as they danced away on the simple dance floor.
	My daughter Jen joined me mid-afternoon for the balance of the day.  She brought a pumpkin that she had been working on, in the hopes of finishing it up today.
	She caught this rare picture of her dad working on a pumpkin...
	Here is Jen's pumpkin after sketching it all out (it goes all around the pumpkin)
	A group called the Ballou Brothers with Matt Ballou.  Matt was Jen's and my guitar teacher from many years ago.  Jen (now 24) was 12 the last time she took lessons from Matt.  When we went up to the stage to say hi he looked at me as though he recognized me but couldn't place it.  I then introduced him to the grown up Jen and my face/hat with a daughter named Jen put it all together.
	It was great seeing Matt again but we couldn't take up too much of his time as he had a set to play, so we let him play.  Good group, great music and fun to watch too.
	Jen had my camera and got this shot of my pumpkin's just before the lighting
	Matt and his brother, the Ballou Brothers... :)
	Me watching them perform
	Jen had begun her carving but we ran out of daylight before she could finish.  But she got a good start on it and should be able to finish it up this weekend.
	My 6 pumpkins lit up for all to enjoy.  I was quite impressed that I was able to get 6 of them done in just one day.
	Some low shutter speed shots.
	A close up showing Jimi Hendrix, a husky dog and a loon (the loon was one of the donated pumpkins)
	On the other side we have a skeleton holding a battle axe (the other donated pumpkin) followed by a skull and the DW Pizzeria pumpkin
	Other pumpkins on display around the bandstand include these from Milford Pack 4 scouts
	There were pumpkins all around the bandstand
	Very creative creations by young and old alike
	Some of the better pumpkins like the one highlighted below
	Close up shows a very creative carving on a pumpkin.  See it under lights below
	This one gives you a better idea of what went into this pumpkin.  Very cool
	My skull pumpkin up close
	Jimi Hendrix up close.  I just love this design and tend to do one nearly every year.
With this I am now caught up on my pumpkin photo albums! (well, with the exception of the rest of Jen's carvings, which I hope to get to eventually...)  I hope to have more ambitious projects for next year and will work very hard to find/make the time to do them.  'Til then...

Copyright, ©1998, James M. Flis