Heather Bean organized the fabulous pumpkin parade last week and she has sent along this note of thanks…
Pumpkin parade appreciations
What a great night! I had a blast at the pumpkin parade. Here are a few thank yous to the people who pulled it together.
Thanks first to Natasha Granatstein for offering orientation and lots of good advice, Sarah Kiliuk for handling media contacts, and the whole DECA crew for helping to harness this great neighbourhood’s enthusiasm and community spirit.
Huge, huge thanks to our volunteer crew for the event: Julie Doucet, who managed to photograph the event as she lit your pumpkins and doled out candles; Anita Schretlen, who showed up after the parade to haul pumpkins, taking on the grunt work and not much glory; and most especially to Johanne Von Zuben, who showed up an hour before the parade began and cheerfully stuck it out to the bitter end. A special award goes to Andrea for volunteer spontaneity–she came for the parade but stayed to help us clean up.
Thanks, too, to City of Toronto Parks Manager ,Bob Ward, and his cleanup crew; the next day there wasn’t a pumpkin seed in sight. Amazing.
And finally (and crucially), thank you to everyone who brought a pumpkin to share! Each pumpkin made the parade bigger, better and more beautiful. Hope to see you all out again next year–tell your neighbours!
Show us your pictures!
There were lots of cameras at the pumpkin parade, and we want to see your favourite photos! On Flickr, tag them “DECA Pumpkin Parade”, or email them to hbbean(at)gmail.com
And we’d love to hear from the owner of the giant monkey Jack O’Lantern, the king of the parade. Where’d you find that pumpkin???
WOW! Looks Spooktacular!
Wish I had been there.
We wimped out on Nov. 1 and didn’t go to the Pumpkin Walk. We definitely won’t make that mistake next year! The poster was really gorgeous–I’d wondered who made it. Sounds like an amazing event, with a wonderful, old-fashioned feel. Congrats to all involved.
The pumpkin parade was fantastic. It wasn’t just for the little kids, but the big kids too. Our neighbour who is 96 came with us and she laughed the entire time. she had a blast.
Thanks for doing this and giving us all such a great time.