Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Support the Peninsula’s only locally-owned newspaper. Subscribe!
Subscribing annually brings you big savings. We also offer monthly and weekly subscriptions.
Premium Subscription
As low as $8.25 per week
Premium Includes:
-- Access to the Daily Journal’s e-Edition: a digital replica of our daily newspaper including crossword puzzles, games, comics, classifieds and ads. You can download a digital replica of the Daily Journal for offline reading. You can also clip & download articles or images from the e-edition to share with others The most recent 90 issues are available at any given time.
-- Unlimited access to our award-winning online content
-- Commenting access on all stories as a valued member of the DJ community
-- NEW! Access to our online-only digital crossword puzzle. A new puzzle every day, seven days a week!
Support the Peninsula’s only locally-owned newspaper. Subscribe!
Subscribing annually brings you big savings. We also offer monthly and weekly subscriptions.
DJ Basic Subscription
As low as $5 per month
Basic includes:
-- Unlimited access to our award-winning online content
-- Commenting access on all stories as a valued member of the DJ community
What you're missing -- Additional features available only with the Premium level:
-- Access to the Daily Journal’s e-Edition: a digital replica of our daily newspaper including crossword puzzles, games, comics, classifieds and ads. You can download a digital replica of the Daily Journal for offline reading. You can also clip & download articles or images from the e-edition to share with others The most recent 90 issues are available at any given time.
-- NEW! Access to our online-only digital crossword puzzle. A new puzzle every day, seven days a week!
Expert pumpkin carver, Farmer Mike, sculpts his one-of-a-kind monster masterpieces as the World Pumpkin Capital of Half Moon Bay celebrated its 52nd annual Art & Pumpkin Festival with over 250 booths, everyone’s favorite pumpkin treats, and local live music.
Those looking for festive, family-friendly fall fun this weekend should look no further than Half Moon Bay’s 53rd annual Art & Pumpkin Festival — featuring the classic great pumpkin parade on Saturday and live music, crafts and pie-eating contests throughout the weekend.
Brandon Dawson, a manufacturing engineer from Santa Rosa, California, won the 52nd World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with a massive 2,346-pound gourd.
A highlight of the festival each year is the giant pumpkin contest winner. This year, Santa Rosa’s Brandon Dawson took home the prize with a massive 2,346-pound pumpkin, per the weigh-off website. That pumpkin will be on display during the Saturday parade, which begins at noon on Main Street.
Other runner-up pumpkins will also be on display, and vintage cars, local marching bands and pumpkin-themed floats will participate in the parade as well, according to a festival press release.
At 10 a.m. Saturday, before the parade, an annual costume contest will also be held, and those participants will join in on the parade fun as well — grand marshaled by Super Bowl winner Jesse Sapolu, event organizer Ronan Fowler said.
Watch live as Half Moon Bay holds its annual Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Last year's winning pumpkin weighed nearly 1,500 pounds.
The event is a Half Moon Bay staple that draws crowds each year because of its whimsical, autumnal events that community members of all ages can enjoy, Fowler said.
Recommended for you
“It’s so unique, and it’s family friendly,” he said. “There’s not a lot of variety between events, I feel like, these days. And I think people just really like the small-town atmosphere and it’s a feel-good event.”
Farmer Mike will also be in attendance, carving large gourds — weighing anywhere from 300 to 1,500 pounds, per the press release — into intricate sculptures.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to carve their own pumpkins, at $10 per pumpkin, and enjoy a wide variety of pumpkin-themed foods, from pancakes and pies to cotton candy, sold by local nonprofits.
Early risers can also attend an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast before the event, which runs from 7-11 a.m. $20 tickets can be purchased before the event at https://gofan.co/event/4055761, and proceeds benefit the Half Moon Bay Boys Basketball Team.
The Art & Pumpkin Festival also works to include the local community, Fowler said, with a Sunday Pumpkin Run benefiting Senior Coastsiders and a pop-up show with local artists and crafts.
“It’s an event that celebrates pumpkins and Halloween and the harvest season,” Fowler said. “It’s just a fun way to celebrate the season.”
Those attending the event via car should be aware that street parking is limited, and lot parking is available at Metzgar, Half Moon Bay High School, Our Lady of the Pillar Church, and Community Center/Shoreline Station for a fee, the press release said.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.