Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta

Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta
Friday - Monday, October 10-13, 2025
(403)

This, my sweet friends, is the BEGINNING of Pumpkinfest - a seedling that turned into a giant pumpkin! Seedling Sunday i...
02/18/2025

This, my sweet friends, is the BEGINNING of Pumpkinfest - a seedling that turned into a giant pumpkin! Seedling Sunday is 3 months away!

02/12/2025
We love our little town, with its amazing shops, stores, and restaurants, as well as all of our year-round and seasonal ...
01/18/2025

We love our little town, with its amazing shops, stores, and restaurants, as well as all of our year-round and seasonal residents, and visitors that make our area a special place to live, to work, and to visit!

This is fantastic publicity for a town renowned for its natural beauty and home to one of Maine’s most popular festivals.

If you’ve ever wanted to catch Pumpkinfest, this should convince you! Here is a great round up of ‘Fest 24 from the ho...
11/11/2024

If you’ve ever wanted to catch Pumpkinfest, this should convince you! Here is a great round up of ‘Fest 24 from the hosts of Magical New England! Thanks Ross!

No one does a Pumpkinfest better than Damariscotta, Maine! From an old-fashioned parade to motor-powered pumpkin boats, this 3-day festival is unbeatable! (I...

Reminder: pumpkin “undecorating” will happen this afternoon in preparation for retrieval early tomorrow morning! If you’...
10/20/2024

Reminder: pumpkin “undecorating” will happen this afternoon in preparation for retrieval early tomorrow morning! If you’d like to get a last glimpse of this year’s decorated fruit, we recommend swinging through town before noon. Huge thanks to our business sponsors and to over 150 talented volunteer artists. We hope you enjoyed this year’s festival pumpkins - they’re ALL winners!! 🧡🎃

Ok, friends! You asked, we delivered! 72 Pumpkins, 5 Hay bales! All of ‘em, in no particular order. Click on pic for spo...
10/19/2024

Ok, friends! You asked, we delivered! 72 Pumpkins, 5 Hay bales! All of ‘em, in no particular order. Click on pic for sponsor/artist.

10/18/2024

The 17th annual Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta brought the festival’s highest post-COVID attendance yet and produced a state record for Maine’s largest pumpkin.

This post might make you crabby - the pumpkins will be up through Saturday 10/19. Sunday artists will begin to undress t...
10/18/2024

This post might make you crabby - the pumpkins will be up through Saturday 10/19. Sunday artists will begin to undress them starting around noon, and they will be removed on Monday 10/21. It’s a gourdeous weekend - come see them while you can!

For those of you wondering, the pumpkins stay out through next weekend, weather permitting!
10/15/2024

For those of you wondering, the pumpkins stay out through next weekend, weather permitting!

10/15/2024

Thanks very much to Hammond Lumber Company for the great set up for our recording staff and for the announcers at the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta. They were able to see over the crowds and call out all the action in the River. And boy was it fun! We have so far had over 950 people view our recording and live stream of the regatta. Here's the link again in case you missed it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5mFcMVtK3g

10/14/2024
Pumpkinfest 2024 is in the books! We are wrapping up a fantastic weekend with record numbers! While I’m at it, did you k...
10/14/2024

Pumpkinfest 2024 is in the books! We are wrapping up a fantastic weekend with record numbers! While I’m at it, did you know that the entire weekend - from website building to pumpkin distributing and decorating to parking and shuttling, to crossing guards, to Derby reffing to pie judging to boat building, and all in between - was organized by volunteers?! A HUGE thanks goes out to everyone who pitched in (sorry if I forgot anyone) to turn this town into one giant awesome party! If you want to join us next year please send an email to [email protected]!

Damariscotta Pumpkinfest’s fearless leader Jed Weiss. Jed is involved in every aspect of Pumpkinfest and is instrumental...
10/14/2024

Damariscotta Pumpkinfest’s fearless leader Jed Weiss. Jed is involved in every aspect of Pumpkinfest and is instrumental in making it the success that it is today!

Jed Weiss, of Bristol, believes that community is a result of everyone doing their part.

Regatta Crowd! We are hardy folk!
10/14/2024

Regatta Crowd! We are hardy folk!

The boats have arrived!
10/14/2024

The boats have arrived!

And this one is “Pie-Eating Dogs of Pumpkinfest!” Thanks again Nicole/HIMoments!
10/14/2024

And this one is “Pie-Eating Dogs of Pumpkinfest!” Thanks again Nicole/HIMoments!

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Damariscotta, ME
04543

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Videos

Last but by no means least - thanks to the intrepid water waders who kept everyone safe!

And our Motorized Boats: Josh Felter, Tom the Gnome Lishness and Buzz Pinkham!

Here we have local Law Enforcement: Doug Snyder (Boothbay), Rand Maker (Lincoln County), Jason Warlick (Damariscotta) and John Lash (Waldoboro)!

The lovely Strawberry team: Lisa Evans, Cecelia Vichi and Elizabeth Camp

The Purple Butterflies: Alice Andrenyak, Jessica Goodwin and Sarah Whitty

The Bridal Party with Jaja Martin, Robert Watts, Dale Hartt and Abby Burbank!

The Shipyard team of Josh Leathem, Briar Bouthot and Sean McCarthy!

The Banana boat team of Todd Sandstrum, Nathan and Gretchen Sandstrum and Britt Bartlett!

Cool pumpkin drop reel from Sarah Whitty!

Omg come see this at the Y!

For those of you following Mason’s pumpkin, here it is making its way to Salty Bliss/Coastal Consignment to be decorated!

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Our Story

Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta is a uniquely spirited event that provides education to young and old, and also an economic boost to this rural, coastal community. Our intent is to expand annually, as has been the case since our inception in 2007.

Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta is an innovative program that promotes horticultural education to gardeners of all ages regarding the specific agricultural science required to grow Atlantic Giant Pumpkins. This program culminates each year in a family-oriented festival, held for ten days in early October through Columbus Day weekend, to showcase the pumpkin growers achievements in a number of creative ways. Damariscotta is a small Maine town whose economic basis is fishing and tourism. Each year Pumpkinfest attracts between 10-15,000 visitors providing a substantial influx of commerce to the area.

The educational mission of Pumpkinfest is accomplished in a number of ways. Each Spring, 50 third-grade students at local Great Salt Bay School volunteer their time to fill 600 pots with soil and amendments for each year’s seeds. More than 400 volunteer-growers grow those plants which are distributed free of charge during “Seedling Sunday”. Detailed, written growing instructions are provided during that event, plus monthly “Pumpkinfest newsletter” tips and techniques. In addition, horticultural presentations are given to intergenerational partnerships of retirees and local school children who are interested in learning about growing giant pumpkins.

Quantifiable pumpkin evaluation measures include weight data collected at the annual October weigh-off – which is officially sanctioned by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC). Detailed data is collected on the genetics of the free Atlantic Giant Pumpkin plants which are distributed each Spring at Seedling Sunday, and which then return to the weigh-off in October as 200-1,400 pound pumpkins. Seeds from the largest, hardiest pumpkins are dried & planted in the subsequent year, for the purpose of high grading the overall stock.