Caro's Pumpkin Festival

The Tuscola County Pumpkin Festival is an annual event started in 1981 by five local residents who wanted to keep Caro bustling. The festival now attracts nearly 50,000 visitors a year at the four-day event. The idea was to grow pumpkins, give them to the public who would return them decorated and then display them on the courthouse lawn. A parade, dinner-dance, and many other family activities were also planned. A contest to select a prince and princess was devised. Children from kindergarten to 6th grade were given the opportunity to enter by growing the "biggest pumpkin".

Over the years, we have seen the festival maintain the "family fun" theme. Both children and adults alike enter their decorated or carved pumpkins. The "Grand" pumpkin award includes a division for children and one for adults. To kick off activities on Wednesday, the All Star Lip-Sync is the big show in town and has moved to three different locations to allow for crowd growth. Sports activities have added a lively spark. The festival has sponsored a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, walleyball tournament, tennis tournament, golf scramble, and continues to host the children's biathlon and annual 5K Run and Fitness Walk. The Rotary pancake supper is an annual event to wet the appetite, along with the homemade pumpkin pies made by local volunteers under the direction of the Caro Knights of Columbus. Last year a record 6000 pies were baked and sold during the festival. The "Cutest Punkin" Baby Contest, pie eating contest, pumpkin seed spitting contest, and the Scarecrow Skirmish are just a few of the other on-going events that are held. Not to be missed is the Auto Show and Arts & Crafts booths on the downtown village streets. The festival has also given birth to our mascot "Harvey", who can be seen throughout the weekend.

The finale is the "Grand Parade" held on Sunday. Last year nearly 200 units marched through Caro including 14 marching bands coming from all over the state. Local merchants, churches, and organizations create wonderful entries to compete for the best entry based on an annual theme. We've also seen Ronald McDonald, Laurel and Hardy, Miss Michigan and "Paws" (just to mention a few) mingling with the parade crowd. The horse entries are always a hit and we have even seen some camels! Bring your chairs and come enjoy the fun.

The annual event is held the first full weekend, starting on Thursday, in October. We hope to see you this year from October 7th through 10th, 2004. If you have any questions regarding the pumpkin festival please leave a message on our information line at 989-673-2511.

Images of past festivals
Click on the pictures below to enlarge

Last update: January 14, 2004