A successful return: Thousands line Lake Pisiquid for Windsor Pumpkin Regatta

Liam Porter wasn’t sure what paddling a giant pumpkin across Lake Pisiquid would be like.

“I was nervous since yesterday,” he said after stepping ashore victorious in the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta and Build Your Own Boat Race on Oct. 11.

“It went way better than I expected honestly.”

It took him about 13 minutes to cross the 500-metre width of the lake in the Brison Developments-sponsored pumpkin. He was the first of 13 entries to reach Windsor from Falmouth.

Porter, a Falmouth resident, said it was his first time participating in the regatta.

“I got coaxed into it Wednesday. (Mitch) Brison needed a man to paddle a pumpkin and I was him; I guess.”

So, how’d that conversation go?

“Liam, you’re running the pumpkin. I said 10-4.”

He was still soaking up the victory as other entries made their way to the dock in front of the Pisiquid Canoe Club.

“It’s crazy. There’s a lot of people here watching.”

Porter, who paddled growing up, left the door open to trying to defend his title in 2027.

West Hants town crier Lloyd Smith provided some history of the event for the spectators who packed the shoreline on both sides of the manmade lake.

He said the local board of trade was looking for fall tourism ideas in 1999 when Danny Dill suggested paddling pumpkins across the lake. He had heard of someone paddling a pumpkin across a lake in Connecticut a few years earlier.

“Here in Windsor, we don’t just carve pumpkins or bake pumpkin pies,” Smith said. “We climb inside giant pumpkins and paddle them across the lake.”

The first regatta occurred in 1999 and continued for 20 years, drawing upwards of 15,000 people to town on some years.

The regatta was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

By 2022, the event was cancelled indefinitely due to Fisheries and Oceans Canada issuing a ministerial order that altered the operation of the Avon River causeway aboiteau gates. It resulted in the manmade freshwater reservoir known as Lake Pisiquid being drained and not enough water remaining to hold the festival.

In 2023, the provincial government issued an emergency order to refill Lake Pisiquid due to wildfire concerns. The order remains in place today, but given the uncertainty of the order, the regatta didn’t immediately resume.

In 2025, residents decided to organize an impromptu pumpkin race after Roland (Rollie) Newcomb said he would like to see the race return.

Before long, the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta and Build Your Own Boat Race Society, chaired by Shannon Murphy, was formed to organize the regatta in 2026.

“The organizers, the mighty committee behind this, are world-class,” said West Hants Mayor Abraham Zebian. “They care about their community, and they want to see people out. My God, they’ve done a great job. Inspiring all around, these people are top-notch.”

He said the large crowd lining the shores sends a message about what the event means to the community.

“You can see thousands and thousands of people here,” he said. “This is the home of the pumpkin regatta and people wanted to see it back. And it’s back – and it’s back to stay.”

There were children’s activities, entertainment, food trucks, and vendors along the waterfront during the day.

A parade of the paddlers made its way from the community centre down Gerrish Street and across Water Street to Falmouth. The pumpkins were lifted into the water at the boat launch.

“You can feel the energy,” Kings-Hants MP Kody Blois said. “People are excited about it, so kudos to the organizers for putting it back on.”

Blois paddled a Canadian-themed pumpkin with his chief of staff, Josh Hilton. There was a tailwind blowing the pumpkins across the lake and the temperature was 12 C in Kentville at 2 p.m. around the time the race began.

“It’s a tough paddle out there with a pumpkin,” the MP said.

“Of course, the pumpkins are not perfectly shaped, so even though you try to line up your strokes, sometimes the pumpkin starts to get off-kilter,” Blois added. “We started out to the right and then had to try to get back to the left, so trying to keep the thing going straight, in a forward direction, was the hardest thing.”

Porter didn’t have any secrets to his success and admitted he contemplated giving up halfway through.

“They’re really tippy,” he said. “It doesn’t go where you want it to go. I found myself going sideways all the time.”

Riley Levy, a Mount Uniacke resident who grew up in West Hants, participated in the regatta for the first time.

She had a loud cheering section from the Brooklyn Early Learning & Childcare Centre waiting for her at the finish line chanting, “Go Riley Go.”

“This was kind of a fun thing for our daycare this year,” Levy explained. “We had all the kids’ handprints on the pumpkin, so they were all part of this as well, and they were all here cheering.”

She said it was an “awesome day” and the daycare’s support meant the world to her.

“I have one of the best workplaces ever and I am so fortunate for my co-workers and all the kids that we have there to make something like this happen and have them cheering on the sidelines.”

She said they learned some lessons they will employ for next year’s regatta.