NORWICH – Despite the rainy day, many people came out this weekend to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Norwich Pumpkin Festival. With entertainment, excitement and fun, the event saw more pumkins than last year, with a total of 5,184 pumpkins logged in.

“It was higher than last year, but it was not our highest,” said Pumpkin Festival volunteer and YMCA employee Julie Wallen.

Despite the weather, spectators came out in support of the festival on Friday and Saturday, carving pumpkins in the community carving tent and enjoying the entertainment and festivities.

This year’s Pumpkin Festival included several new and returning contests, all of which offered cash prizes to the winners. Contests this year included the Pumpkin Carving Contest, sponsored by D&S Auto; the Witch and Warlock Contest, sponsored by Frontier; the Doggone Scary Costume Competition, sponsored by the SPCA; the Window Decorating Contest; the Scarecrow Competition, sponsored by the Morrisville State Student Government and the Pumpkin Bake Off.

Prizes were also awarded to parade participants for categories including best school float, non-school float, business float and family float. The Girl Scouts took first place in the non-school float competition for their color our world theme. Second place was awarded to the Norwich YMCA for their pumpkin pie theme, and third place went to Stop NYRI for ‘Towers of Doom.’ The best family costume or float award went to the Wagner Family with a Wizard of Oz theme. Second place was awarded to M&Ms themed costumes and third place was awarded to Star Wars themed costumes.

The School Float award went to Gibson Primary school for their Gibson pride float. Second Place was awarded to Holy Family for their Olympics themed float, and third place went to Perry Browne for their out of this world float.