Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Showing posts with label pumpkin festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pumpkin festival. Show all posts
October 24, 2008
Yes, We Carve
Some people take politics a little too far, like these folks.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 1, 2008
Flying pumpkins on Chippens Hill
The smashing pumpkins are coming to Chippens Hill.
In less than a month, pumpkins will be hurled through the sky for hundreds of feet by contraptions that medieval armies might have used to turn fortresses into rubble.
Bristol’s second annual Pumpkin Chuckin’ contest, to be held at Roberts Orchard, will feature 5-pound pumpkins launched with a variety of catapults, slingshots and other devices to determine who can fling one the furthest.
“It’s just purely for fun,” said Jessica Dumont, the event’s organizer.
The winner, she said, is “the King Chucker, the Grand Poobah of Pumpkin Chuckin’.”
The pumpkin chuckin’ contest is part of the two-day Pumpkin Festival, which begins on Saturday, October 25.
The first day’s events, sponsored by the city and the Imagine Nation museum, will take place at the former downtown mall site.
They’ll include a costume parade, pumpkin seed spitting and the evening’s illumination of the carved pumpkins that people drop off.
“Some of them” last year “were so ornate it was unbelievable,” said Susan Roesch, a Federal Hill resident.
The following day’s pumpkin chuckin’ lasts from noon until 2 p.m. in the large field behind the Roberts Orchard store on Hill Street.
Dumont said that seven teams participated in last year’s pumpkin chuckin’, including people who brought their pumpkin hurling machines from as far as Boston and New Jersey.
“These men had huge machines,” she said, that could fling pumpkins the length of a football field or beyond.
Dumont said that last year’s competition was “really exciting” and interesting.
Anyone interested in constructing a device to throw pumpkins should get cracking, Dumont said, because it takes awhile.
She said there will be adult and youth divisions, but there are no prizes for winners beyond the glory of success.
For more information on the festival, check out its website here.
Check out the Waterbury Republican-American's slideshow of last year's event by clicking here.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
In less than a month, pumpkins will be hurled through the sky for hundreds of feet by contraptions that medieval armies might have used to turn fortresses into rubble.
Bristol’s second annual Pumpkin Chuckin’ contest, to be held at Roberts Orchard, will feature 5-pound pumpkins launched with a variety of catapults, slingshots and other devices to determine who can fling one the furthest.
“It’s just purely for fun,” said Jessica Dumont, the event’s organizer.
The winner, she said, is “the King Chucker, the Grand Poobah of Pumpkin Chuckin’.”
The pumpkin chuckin’ contest is part of the two-day Pumpkin Festival, which begins on Saturday, October 25.
The first day’s events, sponsored by the city and the Imagine Nation museum, will take place at the former downtown mall site.
They’ll include a costume parade, pumpkin seed spitting and the evening’s illumination of the carved pumpkins that people drop off.
“Some of them” last year “were so ornate it was unbelievable,” said Susan Roesch, a Federal Hill resident.
The following day’s pumpkin chuckin’ lasts from noon until 2 p.m. in the large field behind the Roberts Orchard store on Hill Street.
Dumont said that seven teams participated in last year’s pumpkin chuckin’, including people who brought their pumpkin hurling machines from as far as Boston and New Jersey.
“These men had huge machines,” she said, that could fling pumpkins the length of a football field or beyond.
Dumont said that last year’s competition was “really exciting” and interesting.
Anyone interested in constructing a device to throw pumpkins should get cracking, Dumont said, because it takes awhile.
She said there will be adult and youth divisions, but there are no prizes for winners beyond the glory of success.
For more information on the festival, check out its website here.
Check out the Waterbury Republican-American's slideshow of last year's event by clicking here.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
April 10, 2008
Mall site may be used by nonprofits, for now
With the downtown mall now merely a pile of rubble, city leaders are looking ahead at what do with the 17-acre site now that it’s nearly cleared.
Mayor Art Ward said he anticipates that it will be available to nonprofit groups to use for festivals, car shows, farmers’ markets and the like.
“It makes sense,” the mayor said.
Groups that are interested in using the paved site should submit requests to the city’s Real Estate Committee, Ward said, which will review them and make recommendations to the City Council.
The former mall site, now tagged “Depot Square” in the wake a library naming competition, is the focus of revitalization efforts that officials hope will lead to new stores, offices, housing and perhaps more.
The Bristol Downtown Development Corp., the nonprofit created by the city to oversee the effort, has asked potential developers to submit proposals for the site by the end of May. A preferred developer will likely be picked in mid-summer to begin preparing detailed plans, officials said.
“There’s a potential for something positive to go up there,” Ward said.
The City Council cleared the way to eliminate one potential roadblock recently when it backed a new lease with Discount Food Outlet, the grocery store that rents space from the city.
The store had a lease in place that matched the one held by Ocean State Job Lot, officials said.
But the city and the store’s owners were able to agree recently on a new lease that provides that the store will get at least 90 days notice when the city wants it to move out.
City leaders have said they’re in no hurry to oust the grocer because it serves the central area of town effectively and has been cooperative with city efforts all along.
The new lease, however, removes any doubt that the store could remain for long once the city tells it to get out.
Another city-owned structure on the 17 acres, the former movie theater that most recently housed a Sherwin-Williams paint store, is going to be demolished soon. Officials are putting the final touches on a contract to have it torn down.
Ward said that he became interested in the use of the property during the interim period before a developer steps in to do anything after Pumpkin Festival organizers asked him about using the mall area this fall.
He said he couldn’t see a reason to say no as long as the group had the proper insurance and other routine measures the city requires.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Mayor Art Ward said he anticipates that it will be available to nonprofit groups to use for festivals, car shows, farmers’ markets and the like.
“It makes sense,” the mayor said.
Groups that are interested in using the paved site should submit requests to the city’s Real Estate Committee, Ward said, which will review them and make recommendations to the City Council.
The former mall site, now tagged “Depot Square” in the wake a library naming competition, is the focus of revitalization efforts that officials hope will lead to new stores, offices, housing and perhaps more.
The Bristol Downtown Development Corp., the nonprofit created by the city to oversee the effort, has asked potential developers to submit proposals for the site by the end of May. A preferred developer will likely be picked in mid-summer to begin preparing detailed plans, officials said.
“There’s a potential for something positive to go up there,” Ward said.
The City Council cleared the way to eliminate one potential roadblock recently when it backed a new lease with Discount Food Outlet, the grocery store that rents space from the city.
The store had a lease in place that matched the one held by Ocean State Job Lot, officials said.
But the city and the store’s owners were able to agree recently on a new lease that provides that the store will get at least 90 days notice when the city wants it to move out.
City leaders have said they’re in no hurry to oust the grocer because it serves the central area of town effectively and has been cooperative with city efforts all along.
The new lease, however, removes any doubt that the store could remain for long once the city tells it to get out.
Another city-owned structure on the 17 acres, the former movie theater that most recently housed a Sherwin-Williams paint store, is going to be demolished soon. Officials are putting the final touches on a contract to have it torn down.
Ward said that he became interested in the use of the property during the interim period before a developer steps in to do anything after Pumpkin Festival organizers asked him about using the mall area this fall.
He said he couldn’t see a reason to say no as long as the group had the proper insurance and other routine measures the city requires.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 28, 2007
Pumpkin Festival today
Here's something great to do today (Sunday) in Bristol:
www.bristolpumpkinfestival.com
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
www.bristolpumpkinfestival.com
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
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