Rolled, carved, dressed, spat out and eaten - all this and more happened to the feature vegetable at the inaugural Pumpkin Festival at Roxburgh yesterday.
It was a big weekend for the Teviot Valley.
Shooting for the movie Goodbye Pork Pie took place in Roxburgh on Saturday, in front of dozens of spectators, and yesterday the action moved to the Roxburgh Racecourse, venue for the district's first pumpkin festival.
It was staged by the Roxburgh and Districts Lions Club and proceeds, yet to be tallied, will go to the emergency services which cover the valley.
An American family now living in Christchurch said the Roxburgh event was very similar to the pumpkin festivals which were "huge'' back home, every October.
Janel Atlas, her husband James and their three children hail from Delaware.
She said it was "such a treat to be here - the colours of the trees are unbelievable''.
The only difference between the Roxburgh festival and those in small American towns was the absence of "punkin' chunkin'', the sport of hurling or "chucking'' a pumpkin using some mechanical device, such as a giant catapult or cannon.
Roxburgh's pumpkin focus included a wide range of games to keep festival-goers amused.
These included pumpkin-rolling, pumpkin seed-spitting, racing a short distance with a pumpkin between the knees, and carving the vegetable.
Self-professed Pumpkin King of the district, grower Darryl Peirce, provided the orange pumpkins for carving and also judged the artwork carved into them.
Mr Peirce and associate judge Toni Birtles said there were some very original ideas on display, with a huge variety of designs, which made their job difficult.
The woman who came up with the idea of the festival, and who organised the inaugural event with the assistance of other Lions members, Raewyn Baguley, was pleased with its success.
Several hundred people attended and there was a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, mostly family groups from within Central Otago or people on holiday in the area.
"I'm pleasantly surprised; although I didn't really have any expectations of how it would go. Everyone seems to be having a good time and that's what we wanted.''
A baking contest featured traditional pumpkin pie and everything from apricot pumpkin meringues through to pumpkin chocolate brownie and pumpkin strudel.
Festival patrons could choose from a food selection which included soup, scones, fritters and muffins all made from pumpkins.
There were also prizes for the ugliest, biggest, smallest and best-dressed pumpkin.
Taylor McArley, of Dumbarton, won the top award for the biggest pumpkin grown from Lions Club seeds, with a whopper weighing 50kg.
