Pumpkins Putting Fun into Festival!!
Every year on the first Sunday in May, thousands of people make their way to the village of Collector, halfway between Goulburn and Canberra for the annual Pumpkin Festival.
The key to the success of the Collector Village Pumpkin Festival is that it is family oriented and offers traditional family fun and lots of free activities for everyone.
From humble beginnings in 2003, the festival has grown to become one of the largest one day community events in the country and has become famous for its wonderful food, great entertainment, amazing market stalls and of course, all things pumpkin great and small! Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Scones on a crisp autumn day in Collector has become an annual outing form many regional visitors.
In 2019 a new festival precinct has been introduced opening up the Historic Collector Uniting Church which will feature Art. Alongside the Uniting Church will feature food, music and entertainment, market stalls and a petting zoo.
A Pumpkin Joe’s Tiny Tots Pumpkin Patch, is a special play area for the “little ones” only. Children under 105cm tall will have fun on a free jumping castle and their very own mini hay bale maze to play in while face painting and balloon art will be available for a small fee.
Popular events include pumpkin rolling, wheel barrow races and the scarecrow building event will again be available. You will also find a variety of free activities such as the giant hay bale maze, pony rides, rescue dogs demonstration, working sheep dogs and even a cow milking demonstration, pumpkin themed board games, farm animal petting paddock, rock climbing wall and mechanical bull ride.
For those with a little less energy to spare, a stroll through the other historic stone built churches in Collector may be in order where they will find exhibitions of treasured quilts and a wealth of local information and historical publications.
Of course, the main attraction each year is the Giant Pumpkin competition and display. Cooking and craft competitions will also be a focus for many visitors.
The “Made in Collector” market area will feature stalls with local produce and a variety of home crafted gifts and goodies from the Collector area. Meanwhile, lining the main festival precinct will be over 130 specialist stalls that have been carefully chosen to ensure that the widest range of excellent products and quality gifts.
Entertainment runs on two stages all day with a variety of music for all ages.
Visitors to the festival are also guaranteed to have their taste buds tantalized by treats like pumpkin scones, pumpkin pies, pumpkin soup, gourmet pumpkin pizzas and even pumpkin ice cream! You will also find traditional Aussie BBQ’s, food stalls with international flavours and freshly ground coffee to temp the taste buds.
The Collector Village Pumpkin Festival is a community event ran by volunteers with all profits returned to the community. With full ATM facilities, LOTS and LOTS of car parking and more pumpkins than ever: the Collector Village Pumpkin Festival is a must see event
The Collector Village Pumpkin Festival will be held on Sunday 5th May 2019.
