Today I went to the archives in my school’s library. This was the real first time I took a few hours to sit down and look at newspapers. I started with the first year of the festival in 1991 and looked at the October 30th edition of each year up to 2003. I really liked doing this and it put some pieces of my project together for me. I noticed that with each Halloween edition there was also an article about either arrests, excessive partying or vandalism going back to the early 90’s. This really shows that the riot and mob mentality that the pumpkin festival caused was a long time coming. Also I had the impression that everyone loved the Pumpkin Festival but as the years went on there were many student opinion pieces talking about how they thought the festival was too chaotic and they had wished it wasn’t growing bigger each year. One article even said they thought “It was a disaster waiting to happen” and this was said in 1998.
Overall, my research today made me more excited for the project now that I can see the historical timeline of the event in pictures and in writing.
I’m glad that you found information that made you excited about your project! I know that the more I research my project, the more interested I am in what else I might find. I’m also super excited to learn more about your project and I can’t wait until I can see your finished website. It sounds like the Pumpkin fest was super fun at one point, and I’m glad that there are some steps being taken to restore it to it’s former glory.
This looks like it will be a great addition to your project. Did the arrests over the years raise over the years leading to the infamous year or was it pretty much the same level every year? Just a thought.
As I was researching and looking through the newspapers I realized that the riot was almost inevitable from the amount of chaos that the festival caused. It was surprising that there wasn’t a bigger incident earlier on.
It is interesting to note that most students son’t want the festival anymore. That is a surprise to me. I am interested to learn where most of the issues are emerging from and why this festival causes people to fight. Pumpkin usually makes me very happy. Other than drinking, what else is there to do at the Pumpkin Festival? Have people mentioned why they don’t want it anymore are the people really angry when it comes to the festival?
Peace & Love,
Abriana
In the newspapers from the early 2000’s some people mentioned that too many people from out of Keene and New Hampshire were swarming the town and making the festival so crowded to the point where it wasn’t enjoyable anymore. This is interesting because a big cause of the riot in 2014 was that there were out of state college aged kids drinking and being disrespectful to the town because they had no connection to it.
Hey Erin!
This is a great find! It looks like you had great success in your research. Archives have been a huge help in our research as well. It’s interesting that the controversy surrounding this event kind of built up over the years and exploded. I was also shocked that some students wrote opinion pieces saying the event was escalating too much and needed to be shut down. Looks like you have a great background and start to your research. Keep doing what you’re doing!
I agree with the others who have commented; there’s nothing quite so satisfying in research as coming out of a long research session with some great new information! It sounds like you’ve found terrific contextualization for the 2014 Pumpkin Fest that will allow you to think about the concerns of the town, students, and college in the years leading up to the festival. I’m excited about your project and what you’re learning!
The pumpkin Fest became way bigger than itself. That is crazy! We do not have something like that here in Virginia. That is a really cool tradition as well. What do you think about the tradition?