Organizers of the Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Festival made the announcement Wednesday, citing a lack of lake water as the reason for the cancellation. “Pisquid Lake is dry right now and we haven’t had a full regatta since 2018, so in consultation with our committee, we felt the timing was right,” Vanessa Roberts, the longtime logistics coordinator for the regatta. he told Mainstreet from CBC Halifax. “I saw the writing on the wall and you know, you don’t have water, you don’t have a regatta,” Danny Dill, owner of Dill Family Farm and the main supplier of the giant pumpkins, told Mainstreet. “You need three ingredients. You need water, a giant pumpkin, and someone crazy to paddle it.” The Windsor Pumping Regatta cannot go ahead as Lake Pisiquid between Windsor and Falmouth, NS, is dry. (Paul Palmer/CBC) The man-made Lake Pisiquid, which is dammed and formerly filled with fresh water from the River Avon, has empty for more than a year. A ministerial order required the tidal gates on the Windsor Causeway to be operated in a way that improves fish passage to and from the Avon for short periods during tidal flows. This drastically reduced the water level. Roberts, who works for West Hants Regional Council, said other local lakes were considered to host the regatta, but “logistically none suited our needs”. He said the regatta should be held on a lake that can accommodate 10,000 to 15,000 spectators, which is what the regatta has attracted in previous years. The first pumpkin regatta was held in 1999 after Dill thought of putting his giant pumpkins in the water, knowing they would float. Since then, a regatta has been held almost every year. “It’s a lot of work. It’s a huge loss for our community because I mean, I had no idea in ’99 how much interest it would bring and it just kept growing and growing every year,” Dill said. “There’s a part of me that’s a bit sad, but it’s a relief because it’s a lot of work, of course, too.” The last pumpkin regatta was held in 2019, a smaller event that almost didn’t go ahead after a poor growing season. The 2020 and 2021 regattas have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on provincial gatherings.
It’s not the last pumpkin regatta in Nova Scotia
Although the pumpkin regatta won’t be held in Windsor, Dill said another community is hoping to hold its own this year. “They came to me in the spring. They knew our situation. We had no water and it doesn’t look like we ever will,” Dill said. “Who knows when again here with this highway construction, I wished him well and said I’ll do anything to help you.” Danny Dill, owner of Dill Family Farm, says he will supply the pumpkins to a community on the South Shore that wants to host its own regatta. (Carolyn Ray/CBC) He couldn’t confirm which community will host a regatta, but said it’s somewhere on the South Coast — and will be providing the giant pumpkins as usual. “They’ve got a good port and they’re going to start this year with five pumpkins, literally to get their feet wet, so to speak,” he said. “… I wish them well and they’re happy and it should be a big draw for their community.” As for Windsor, Roberts said there are other events expected to draw crowds to the city this fall. Dr. Kier Stewart, a Halifax heart surgeon, demonstrates his technique as he races his giant pumpkin in the 19th annual Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Festival Regatta on Pisiquid Lake in Windsor in 2017. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press) The annual Garlic Festival will move to downtown Windsor on September 17th, and the annual Howard Dill Pumpkin Classic and Weigh-in at Dill Family Farm continues for October 1st. “There are farmers markets and all kinds of things that people can go to [to] and explore our area, so yes, it’s sad to lose our regatta, but it also creates opportunities,” he said.
