Battersea Pumpkin Festival

Wilma Kenny | Oct 18, 2017

Battersea held what was perhaps its most successful ever Pumpkinfest last Saturday.The whole village was decorated with pumpkins and cornstalks; there was a parade, food, music, petting zoo, rides through the forest on a miniature steam train, rides through the village on a wagon, a haunted barn, a pie sale, pumpkin carving, both participatory and performance-based, and a creative array of pumpkin-related children's games.

A wind-up catapult flung pumpkins in more or less one direction, three strange winged figures on stilts stalked through the crowd along with a top-hatted unicycle rider, and it appeared Queen Victoria herself moved in a stately manner across the field.
If you'd substituted livestock for all the dogs, it could have been a mediaeval fair.

Volunteers, many with pointed hats and straggling orange hair, saw that cars pedestrians and trains interacted safely.

Some lovely new children's play structures were officially opened, the weather was warm, and it didn't rain. Congratulations to the army of volunteers who made the day such fun.