Fall photos of Calgary’s Blue Grass Nursery Pumpkin Fest

Families gathered this weekend to celebrate the 22nd annual Blue Grass Pumpkin Fest.

The beloved festival offered a full day of family-friendly fun, featuring everything from pumpkin carving and pony rides to carriage rides and a spooky straw maze.

But the main attraction, and crowd favourite, was the giant pumpkin smash.

“We had a friend who used to grow giant pumpkins,” said Lisa Silva, operations manager and project coordinator with Blue Grass Nursery. “One year, he approached us and said, ‘I have this crazy idea, what if I grow you pumpkins and we drop them on a car?’ That’s really how it all started, and it’s just grown from there ever since.”

With a variety of local food trucks and artisan vendors, Pumpkin Fest continues to be a popular event in the community year after year.

All the money raised from the Pumpkin Fest is donated to the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.

This year alone, the festival raised $18,500, contributing to a remarkable total of more than $350,000 donated over the past 20 years.

“We chose the Children’s hospital because most of our customer base and staff all have families,” says Silva. “So the Children’s hospital is an important charity for everyone, and we feel strongly in supporting them.”