Hosted on Halloween, the annual Pumpkin Festival welcomed trick-or-treaters to the event for the first time.
Elon students, faculty and staff brought in Halloween at the 17th annual Pumpkin Festival in the Elon Community Garden.
This was the first year the Pumpkin Festival hosted trick-or-treaters in the garden since the festival was on Halloween. Children dressed as princesses, superheroes and witches were able to enjoy the pumpkin-inspired activities with Elon students and staff.
Michael Strickland, assistant teaching professor of English and environmental studies, teaches the Garden Studio Class that supports and works on the Elon Community Garden. In addition to preparing for the annual festival this year, his student also planted a variety of vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens and peppers.
Strickland started the festival as a way to get the outside Elon community involved in the garden and see his students’ hard work. Students in the Garden Studio Class are taught which plants can grow during fall and spring in North Carolina and different ways to eat them. Students learned they can use the leaf of mustard greens as a wrapping to eat with anything.
“So many of the students don’t have a background in gardening at all. So seeing them planting seeds, growing baby plants, transplanting and nurturing them is wonderful,” Strickland said.
The vegan Brunswick stew, a tradition and garden club secret recipe, made its appearance once again at the Pumpkin Festival. This year, there were three variations of the soup made by different students following the same recipe with the vegetables grown in the community garden.
Ayla Gonzalez ’28 and Nastasia Harrison ’28 work for the Office of Sustainability as Eco-Reps, peer educators who teaches students how to be sustainable in their everyday lives. When planning to table for the pumpkin fest this year, Elon’s Eco-Reps came up with the idea of giving out reusable tea bags and allowing people to build their own tea flavor combinations. They also provided free thrifted mugs that people could take home with them or enjoy homemade apple cider at the festival.
“It’s a great way to bridge the gap between Elon students and the people who live in the area, while serving the community,” Gonzalez said.
Samantha Hinton ’25, an Elon Year of Service Fellow and current teaching assistant for Strickland, has enjoyed the Pumpkin Festival since her first year and now has the unique opportunity to guide current students through the garden.
“It is always really incredible to watch how people step up to make the festival happen and really just a joy to see people of all ages and all backgrounds celebrate harvest and fall,” Hinton said.
Fall craft stations, like a pumpkin bake sale and a hair tinsel table, crowded the garden, inviting attendees to enjoy the nice weather and their homemade apple cider.
“It’s a great way to spend time around people and just be out in nature, doing pumpkin painting and other fall crafts,” said Karma Manson ’28, who attended the festival.
