Newfield library holds pumpkin decorating contest

The leaves have started to fall from the branches of trees that adorn the hills of Newfield, which means that Halloween is fast approaching. Another sign of the holiday is that pumpkins can be found in every store and at every country roadside stand.

The Newfield Public Library brought back an event earlier this week to celebrate both Halloween and the crop most associated with the season. On Monday, it began its second pumpkin decorating contest.

The first contest took place in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. Newfield Public Library Director Sue Chaffee said the contest featured members of the community decorating pumpkins on their own and bringing them in to be displayed in the library windows.

During the pandemic, she said the pumpkins in the windows served as a reminder that the library would always be a place for the community to gather.

“This library has had workshops in the past, but when we weren’t able to meet because of COVID, this was the type of contest where people could do it at home, bring in it, and it was another way to help the community during COVID to come out and have some entertainment options,” she said. “We did that quite a bit in our front windows with displays, just to get people who were walking around to remember that the library is here and we’re thinking of them during all of that.”

The contest began Monday and concludes Friday. Next Monday, on Halloween, the library staff will decide a winner.

Contestants can bring their designed pumpkins to the library to enter them in the contest while the library is open. The library hours are Monday 2 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Friday 2 to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Chaffee said the library will display the pumpkins in the window throughout the week. During the last contest in 2020, 12 entries were submitted that featured painted, carved and costumed pumpkins.

“This is the second time that we’ve done it, and people really enjoyed it,” she said. “Not just the participants, but all our other patrons appreciated seeing all the creativity out there.”

She said there’s no limit to the creativity the public can show, which makes it something all of Newfield can get involved in.

“Something like this contest is really just to get people in the community out to have some fun,” she said. “We want to provide programming for all ages, and this is one way of including some folks that don’t necessarily participate in some of our other programming, like author visits. It’s a way for us to offer something that’s fun and meets the needs of everyone in our community. The need to have fun is something that we all need. It’s free. It gives people the opportunity to win a prize and show us their creativity.”

The first-place winner will be awarded a large pizza from the Covered Bridge Market, a prize Chaffee said goes a long way for Newfield families.

“Everybody loves their pizza,” she said. “Our feeling with a prize like that is that a lot of families participate together or every kid in a family might have a submission. This type of prize allows everyone in the family or household to win. Covered Bridge Market is great to us, gives us special pricing for gifts or prizes like that. Our patrons love to win them, and we love to offer that kind of prize, and the Covered Bridge Market makes that kind of prize much more affordable.”

Chaffee said other prize winners will receive a library goody bag that will have candy, DVDs, library activities, books and movies relevant to the age group of the winner.

The library has had pumpkin decorating workshops in the past, but COVID-19 kept it from having that option ahead of the 2020 contest.

This year, Chaffee said the library decided again not to have a workshop. She said it wasn’t because of COVID-19 but instead the October schedule of workshops, author visits and seminars making it easier to send the contest home with the patrons.

“The contest and the way we’re doing it, it’s relatively easy for us,” she said. “With our schedule of other programs this month, it was easier not to do it. Next year, we’ll definitely consider a workshop.”

Participants can drop off their pumpkins at Newfield Public Library, located at 198 Main St. in Newfield, during operating hours.

Newfield Notes appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.

In brief:

Bubbleman wraps up Summer Reading Program Thursday

Stormy weather disrupted Bubbleman and the grand finale of the Newfield Public Library Summer Reading Program in August, but on Thursday, the program will be completed.

Bubbleman will be back Oct. 27 at 3:30 p.m. at the library for ice cream and fun.

The program has been made possible by the Bernard Carl and Shirley Rosen Library Fund, Community Foundation of Tompkins County and the United Way of Tompkins County.