Author and Editor: Madeleine Midles
Food Tour:
Cost: $-$$$
Funky Fact: There are over 50 all vegan restaurant in Portland
The most unique pumpkin event on the West Coast happen every year in Tualatin, Oregon.
The tiny town or Tualatin, just outside Portland, swells to capacity and thousands of people attend the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta. Here is your bucket list for events during the festivities.
1. The Pumpkin Boat Races
2. Seed Extraction and Giant Pumpkin Carving
3. Giant Pumpkin Weigh off!
4. Children’s costume contest
5. Photo-ops and Face painting
6. Pumpkin Chess and Checkers
7. Pumpkin Golfing
8. Pumpkin Bowling
9. Halloween Decor
10. Giant Pumpkin Seed Sale
11. The Giant Pumpkin Contest Winner
1 The Pumpkin Boat Races
These take place on day 2 of the event, Sunday. They are usually held at noon and 2:00pm.
2. Seed Extraction and Giant Pumpkin Carving
This takes place starting at 8:00 am the day of the race to ensure pumpkin freshness! It’s done by a team of carving experts, visitors can watch the orange goop fill up trash cans.
3. Giant Pumpkin Weigh off!
May the biggest pumpkin squash the completion. Pumpkins are towed in one by one on pallets using a forklift, a pumpkin harness is wrapped around it to move the pumpkins to the giant scale. The largetst pumpkins weigh from 1,700-2000lbs.
4. Children’s Costume Contest
Costume contests are held throughout the day of the event.
5. Photo-ops and Face painting
All around the lake are fun activities to entertain visitors between the races.
6. Pumpkin Chess and Checkers
Boards are located around the lake for a quick game.
7. Pumpkin Golfing
Children only put-put golfing into the lake. Golfers try and aim for floating pumpkin buckets to win a prize.
8. Pumpkin Bowling
The boy scouts run the pumpkin bowling alley lines with hat and lopsided bowling balls
9. Halloween Decor
The lake and surrounding business decorate with skeletons and haunted decor.
10. Giant Pumpkin Seed Sale
For visitors feeling inspired to grow their own giant pumpkin, seed are for sale at stalls and online. These seeds are dried and saved from previous years giants. The weight and year of the parent is on each pouch.
11. The Giant Pumpkin Contest Winner
2022 was a dry summer for growing, but this years winner weighed in at 1,728.5 lb.
In addition to the above events, there is also a 5K Run, Medallion Hunt, Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers’ Terminator weigh-off and New Seasons Market Giant Tomato Weigh-Off and Tualatin High School Marching Band Performance. Check out the Tualatin West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta’s website for more information. Hope to see you there next year!
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