By Sam Wildow
BRADFORD — The Bradford Community Festival will be back the beginning of this October, which means plans are already in the making for the Bradford Pumpkin Show. This will be the 87th year for the Community Festival, and the chairpersons of the Pumpkin Show are hoping to get the community excited again about the show.
“We’re going to try to get the enthusiasm back,” chairperson Glenna Curry said. Curry was there in the 1980s when they began the property decorating competition for the Pumpkin Show.
“It just looked like a fairyland… thousands and thousands of lights,” Curry said. “It was so impressive.”
Curry said “it was something to see” to have a small town have almost a hundred entries. “We would get hundreds and hundreds of people driving through,” she said.
The excitement is not what it was, but those behind the Bradford Pumpkin Show are working to reignite it. In a press release, they recognized the cost of decorating every year for the show, so the full competition will be every other year, with a simplified contest during the off years.
For the 87th Community Festival, they are asking everyone to get involved in the Pumpkin Show. Even if people do not want to enter the contest, they are asking residents to still set out some pumpkins and lights to add to the festival.
The guidelines for entering the 2015 Bradford Pumpkin Show Property Decorating Contest:
Entries must reside in the Bradford School District
Entries must decorate to the theme “Celebrate the Harvest” or “What I Did Last Summer” (one’s best or dream vacation)
All entries must use live pumpkins in their display in some way, and contestants will be judged on their use of live pumpkins in their display
All entries must have some form of lighting so the display may be seen after dark
It is one property per entry, but a group or organization may enter one particular house or building
All displays must be lit so they can be judged on Sunday, Oct. 4, between 7-11 p.m.
Entries must leave the entire decoration in place for the entire week of the Pumpkin Show (Oct. 6 through Oct. 10) and must be lit every night until 10 p.m. in order to qualify for the prize money
If the display uses luminaries, live people, fires, or any other special effects, they must be in place every night in order for the total entry to be seen by all
Those who enter the contest may not consult with the judges
The deadline to enter is Sept. 22
A contestant’s entry number should be displayed somewhere on the property in letters large enough to be seen by the judges from the street
For questions about entering the Bradford Pumpkin Show, call one of the following chairpersons: Glenna Curry at 937-448-2897; April Brubaker at 937-417-3049; or Rita Lewis at 937-901-3758.
The top three winners of each category will receive $187; the People’s Choice winner will receive $87; and a random drawing from all entries will be awarded $87. In the business category, there will be one first place winner of $187.
The winners will be notified by Oct. 5, by 7 p.m. Winners may pick up their winnings at the secretary’s office after the parade on Oct. 7. The winners will have awards placed on their property entry.
For more information about the Bradford Pumpkin Show, visit www.bradfordpumpkinshow.com.
Reach Sam Wildow at 937-451-3336 or on Twitter @TheDailyCall
