Children play with pumpkins on Pumpkin Festival in Collector, half an hour's drive from Australian capital Canberra, on May 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Pan Xiangyue)
CANBERRA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Pumpkins rolled on the ground while scarecrows stood in breeze. The Collector Village which was normally tranquil was transformed into an amusement park on Sunday, attracting visitors from big cities to slow down and enjoy idyllic life.
The Collector Village Pumpkin Festival, falling on the first Sunday in May, is in its 16th year. About half an hour's drive from Australian capital Canberra, the small village saw children running in the hay maze or carrying a wheel burrow loaded with pumpkin, while adults choosing different products from stalls or queuing for pumpkin soup.
"We have about 150 stall holders this year," said Gary Poile, event organizer in an interview with Xinhua. "Last year we had 16,000 visitors. This year we have got more, and I'm guessing perhaps we have 20,000." The number is 80 times the population in Collector Village.
According to Poile, 57, the festival started in 2003 as a community event to celebrate harvest. "It was basically inside the community hall, with four or five stalls," he recalled.
Asked why the event was named as Pumpkin Festival, Poile, who is a local farmer, said "we are good at growing pumpkins". "There are so many different things you could do with pumpkins," he said. "You can eat them. You can make them in the soup. You can turn them into pumpkin scones. Or you can roll them down the hill. You can make scarecrows with them."
A girl plays Tic-Tac-Toe with pumpkins on Pumpkin Festival in Collector, half an hour's drive from Australian capital Canberra, on May 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Pan Xiangyue)
As a result, each year the festival gets bigger and better, he said. "This year we have the hay bale maze, the scarecrows, the pumpkin rolling, the wheel burrow races," he said. "Every year we have got something new in it. We have more sponsors, more stalls, and more activities in competition."
At the scarecrow competition, contestants could make scarecrow with clothes provided and a pumpkin as a head. Some kids as small as three years old also took part in. They painted and dressed the pumpkins like a bride, a princess or even Super Mario with a mushroom on the head.
The rolling contest was like bowling, where people, in laughter and cheers, rolled basketballs along different lanes flanked by pumpkins.
Various products were sold at the stalls.
Jacqueline Knight attended the festival for the second time, selling hand-blown glass tableware in the shape of pumpkin. "Some people I knew recommended the festival to me because I make pumpkins and they said you should go to the Collector Pumpkin Festival."
Pumpkin-shaped glassware are seen at a booth on Pumpkin Festival in Collector, half an hour's drive from Australian capital Canberra, on May 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Pan Xiangyue)
Last year she sold at least 20 or 30. "I like pumpkin," she said with a smile. "The festival is a lot of fun."
Evan Roche was busy helping visitors select scarves from his stall. His wife was from China and the scarves he sold were all made in China. Ten years ago he came just for a try. It proved a success, and the next year he came again to see if business is the same.
"The weather is cool and it is close to Mother's Day, people would like to buy scarf as a gift," he said.
An old woman who only gave her name as Pam went to the festival with her husband, and they just bought the German sausage there. Living in Canberra, she got to know about the festival from radio broadcast about ten years ago.
Over the years she saw the change of the festival, with "more food and more things to buy". "It's a good day out," she beamed.
