Community

Spooktacular Pumpkin Walk draws big crowd

The annual pumpkin walk makes a big return.

  • Record number of pumpkins donated
  • Families enjoy the fun

The Spooktacular Pumpkin Walk put on by the Regional District of Central Okanagan (RDCO) made a big return after cancelling the event last year.

Guests were eager to get out to the family-friendly event and there was a major backlog of traffic on Springfield Road to get into Mission Creek Regional Park.

Rose Maunder with the RDCO told Kelowna10 they weren’t sure how this year's walk would turn out, the first since 2019.

“We always want it to be the best it can be,” she said. “This year it was a big question as to would people come out, donate pumpkins. I’m super excited so many people came out to enjoy it.”

Residents were encouraged to make a pumpkin to submit for the walk to be judged in different categories from most original, strangest, and funniest. Maunder noted there were more submissions this year than previous years.

“We had about 160 pumpkins dropped off from different families and different businesses,” she said. “It’s the most pumpkins we’ve ever had.”

Maunder noted there were new trails added to the park this summer and she'’s grateful to those who came out.

“We’re really overwhelmed and thankful for everyone that’s gotten involved with it,” she said. “We’re happy to give back and create a friendly, fun, free activity.”

The event saw lots of families all dressed up in fun costumes following the creekside trails and seeing all the nicely carved pumpkins.

“We have two young kids and we thought it’d be great for them to come out and see the pumpkins,” said Leanna Thickler who was out enjoying the walk with her family.

“It’s good for the kids, it’s good to see all the costumes. It’s really awesome to see how happy everybody is and get the community together especially since everyone’s been so locked away lately.”

The event also was collecting food donations for the Central Okanagan Food Bank.

Published 2021-11-03 by Connor Chan

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