No giant pumpkin festival this year

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Who would have known that last year’s Rainy River Giant Pumpkin Festival may very well have been the last one.
It began sixteen years ago when former RR Dr. Ewen Affleck gathered some pumpkin growers in his back yard for a weigh-in. It then moved to Hannam Park where it ballooned in size both in pumpkin weights and public interest.
At one point there were more than 100 entries and eventually the 1,000 lbs. mark would be broken. The record weight was set in 2006 by Ben Johnson of Kakabeka Falls, Ont. at 1,173 lbs.
Dr. Affleck left Rainy River after a few years of running the event, turning it over to Eltjo Wiersema and a group of volunteers. They would run it for over a decade and two years ago Eltjo announced his intention to retire. Unlike NFL great Brett Favre, Eltjo was not planning to hang up his hat and the come back the next year. He officially retired at the end of last year’s 15th Annual festival.
This week he informed the Record that after doing a phone blitz to get people together to make sure someone new was ready to step up to the plate, the called meeting was abysmal. Only himself and another family showed up.
Wiersema told the Record that it will not happen this year but he hopes that someone will pick it up and get it going again next year in 2011.