Pumpkin Festival has become regional attraction

Last year’s winner at 1,051 pounds was a record breaker for the weigh-off and delighted the festival crowd estimated at 15,000.

This year farmers and gardeners from several states will try to outdo previous entries, showing off their prize pumpkins and other vegetables and competing for cash prizes and world record consideration at the Allardt weigh-off held annually on the first Saturday in October.

The festival has blossomed into a large-scale event, with organizers saying people travel from all over the Southeast to attend.

In 2006, Lawrence County’s 4-H Club of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., weighed in a 1,051-pound pumpkin, which had four weeks earlier broken the state record at the State Fair in Nashville at 1,078 pounds.

Registration for pumpkins and other entrants in the 2007 weigh-off will be held at the Allardt Express Market between 8 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6. The actual weigh-off will begin at 10 a.m., immediately following registration.

Noteworthy watermelons, squash, long gourds, sunflower heads, corn stalks, and other vegetables will also be weighed and/or measured and winners declared. Hundreds of dollars in cash prizes will be awarded. The top three pumpkin winners will be awarded $300, $200, and $100 in prizes. Entrants may call 931-879-7125 for a copy of the rules for this year’s competition or see the Web site www.AllardtPumpkin-Festival.com.

The tiny city of Allardt has turned the pumpkin weigh-off into an occasion to celebrate. Its 16th annual festival is expected to attract record-breaking crowds of visitors to this city of less than 700 residents.

The festival began in 1991 when an Allardt businessman and farmer, the late Jim Asberry, startled gardeners, farmers, and folks in general with a giant pumpkin weighing 716.5 pounds ‘ at that time the largest ever recorded in the state of Tennessee.

This annual event has become a high point of the fall season for Fentress County, and the Upper Cumberland area. Professional craft workers, as well as amateur and hobby craft workers, and several food vendors will offer their goods in Allardt’s Bruno Gernt Park.

Kick-off ceremonies will be held Friday, Oct. 5 with refreshments and introduction of festival dignitaries. Saturday attractions will include the pumpkin run, entertainment, car and antique tractor shows, a motorcycle show, a quilt show, a bake sale and auction, a talent contest, and a parade. Fireworks will light the skies Saturday evening at 7 p.m.

Admission is free, and plenty of free parking is available. For more information, call Allardt City Hall at 931-879-7125.