Newtown Lions Club 3rd Annual

Great Pumpkin Races

By 10:30 am entries for the 3rd Annual Great Pumpkin Races were starting to line up on a small slope of grass behind Edmond Town Hall on Saturday, October 20.

The Newtown Lions Club-hosted event has pumpkins on wheels race down a hill. There was also a decorated pumpkin contest, booths set up by a wide range of vendors, and a trebuchet pumpkin launch station — set up by Marc, Kate, Nancy, and Alex Michaud and Newtown Middle School technology education teacher Don Ramsey.

At Newtown Parks & Recreation’s booth magnets were being sold for $5 along with T-shirts and other animal-related paraphernalia to raise money for Newtown Park & Bark. At the Newtown Savings Bank station children could search through a pile of hay to find hidden candy. At the EverWonder Children’s Museum booth children could play with a number of different activities and received bracelets that change color in the sun and come with suggested science experiments to perform on the bracelets.

The pumpkin decorating contest was judged in three categories; Best Decorated, Funniest, and scariest.

Later in the day Newtown Lions Club members also held the club’s Annual Mustang Raffle drawing. This year’s winner was announced as Eric Dzikas of West Haven. The vehicle up for raffle was a 1968 Mustang convertible with a dark blue body, dark interior, 289 V8, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and power top.

Eventgoers and pumpkin races participants were also urged to keep their pumpkins and bring them to the home of Mackenzie Page, at 14 Main Street, where she is sponsoring a display of jack-o’-lanterns as a fundraiser, with a $5 donation being asked with each pumpkin to benefit The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and the Page family’s young friend Zoe, who is being treated for brain cancer.

Free cider and doughnuts were provided by Blue Jay Orchards, and the St Rose Knights of Columbus sold hot dogs and hamburgers.

A slideshow from the event is available online at www.newtownbee.com.