Above: Fingers crossed for cooperative weather! The Friends of the Library are helping Southborough Rotary hold a rescheduled Pumpkin Stroll event this weekend. (photos by Beth Melo)
Heritage Day’s Nor’Easter prompted the cancellation of Southborough Rotary’s annual Pumpkin Stroll. Thanks to a partnership with The Friends of the Southborough Library, a rain date has been scheduled for the event.
The public is invited to place their decorated pumpkins on the wall for the community to enjoy this Sunday evening!
Initially, Rotary volunteers were too stretched thin to put on a rain date this fall. So, the Friends of the Southborough Library planned to put on a scaled back version.1 When Rotary heard the news, some of their members wanted to take part. So, for this fall it’s a collaboration by volunteers.
To Participate
If you are contributing to this year’s display, please:
- Place your pumpkins on the stone wall around the Old Burial Ground next to the Southborough Library on Sunday, October 26th anytime before 6:00 pm that day. (See image right.)
- Plan to fetch your contributions the next day. (The silver lining on the postponed event is that pumpkins will hopefully still be in good enough shape to display at your home on Halloween!)
FYI, if you haven’t bought your pumpkin(s) yet, and want to support Algonquin Regional High School’s sports program, ARHS Athletics is holding a Gonk Patch fundraiser. See details in flyer right.
To Enjoy the Stroll
The public is encouraged to stroll the lit display from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on Sunday, October 26th. The display is on the stone wall running around the Old Burial Ground. The lineup begins on Common Street next to the Southborough Library, runs up the hill, and around the corner on St. Mark’s Street.
The Town has agreed to block off the road for the evening to allow for safe fun for all.
During the evening stroll, the Rotary and Friends will have tables setup in front of the library with free refreshments. (Thanks to support from the DoubleTree Inn and Roche Bros.).
- Rotary is encouraging attendees to bring items to donate to the Southborough Food Pantry.
- Alternatively, you can bring a donation to the Diaper Drive that the Southborough Library is supporting to help the the Worcester Area Mission Society.
- (You can also make cash donations for the Rotary’s Foldscopes program or to support Friends of the Southborough Library.)
For any readers unfamiliar with the event, every year, community members come up with pumpkin designs with a wide array of traditional and clever contributions. Something always surprises me.
Below are examples from each year the blog has covered the event.2 (For more great inspirations, check out the blog’s past photo galleries.)
- Full disclosure: I’m the President of The Friends of the Southborough Library.
- Pictures are 2008-2024 with a few exceptions. (The event couldn’t be held in 2020 (due to Covid). I missed getting pics of the 2016 event that Southborough Rec held after Rotary’s was rained out, and no photos were posted by my predecessor in 2010.)
