The Dwellingup Pumpkin Festival is a favourite on West Australian’s calendars.
The Dwellingup Primary School P&C fundraiser has been running for more than 22 years having started with a few blokes standing around a
BBQ boasting about the size of their pumpkins in 1996.
Over 13,000 people were in attendance at this year’s festival, where they enjoyed free entertainment for the entire family including a reptile show, face painters, pony rides, bouncy castle, petting zoo and laser tag. Other entertainment included a bucking bull ride, camel rides, buskers and other music entertainment.
The festival hosted over 100 stalls and 10 food trucks showcasing a diverse range of businesses and local produce from the Peel.
The main event of the festival is the pumpkin competition with the pumpkin king being crowned for having the heaviest pumpkin. The
heaviest Pumpkin was grown by a gentleman from Perth — David Penfold, with the weight totalling 268.6kgs.
Over 60 seed packs are circulated to schools around the state in the lead up, encouraging students to enter their very own giant pumpkins in
the competitions yielding promising results, with over ten schools having successfully grown giant pumpkins.
The winner of the under 16s for 2019 was Kobe Cocivera who grew a Pumpkin that was 206kgs. Kobe’s pumpkin was also the third equal
heaviest over all.
Over the last four years the festival has experienced exceptional growth with an increase of around 2,000 people attending each year and
raising $70,000 from the previous four festivals with each festival taking over eight months to plan.
This festival is an ever-growing achievement for the Dwellingup Primary P&C Association led by President Warren Haugh, and is the main fundraiser for the group coordinated by very small team of parents from the Dwellingup Primary School.
The main aim of the festival organisers is to provide an affordable, enjoyable day out for the entire family, which is why they host a number of rides and attractions for a gold coin donation.
“It’s about the family coming up here and having a really good day out, it’s affordable and it’s fun,” Warren Haugh said.
Approximately 55 students attend Dwellingup Primary School with the festival delivered by volunteers throughout the community and
not-for-profits organisations assisting on the day, with the P&C donating a portion of funds raised back towards the organisations following the event. Eight not-for-profits hosted stalls at the event, each fundraising and raising awareness for their groups.
Dwellingup Primary School and P&C thanks everyone who comes along and supports the iconic event each year. Keep an eye out in your local papers for 2020 Dwellingup Pumpkin Festival dates.
This article was first published in the Peel Magazine, Autumn/Winter – vol 5.1 – to read and download the full magazine, click here.