Pumpkin Days is this weekend in Orient

Pumpkin Days will be the place to be Friday evening and all day Saturday in Orient as the town pulls out all the stops for its annual town festival.

According to Josh Madison, a member of the committee that plans Pumpkin Days, the group’s goal is to always have attractions to lure in the entire family. This year, he feels they have done a really good job of a accomplishing that goal.

“For me, I enjoy sitting back and watching people enjoy Pumpkin Days, whether it’s kids on the carnival having a good time, people walking around looking at vendors, watching the parade,” Madison said. “Helping to put it on and then being able to watch people come together as a community for a weekend and have a good time [are reasons I enjoy it].”

Friday evening’s events include food trucks, carnival rides, games, concessions, face painting, the Orient Area Betterment and Improvement Corporation’s annual dinner 5-7 p.m. at the Dugout Cafe, a pickleball tournament at 5:30 p.m. and The Mike Walsh Band will take the stage 7-10 p.m.

Highlights of Saturday events are many crowd favorites that are always part of Pumpkin Days, such as the firemen’s breakfast 7-10 a.m, the volleyball tournament in the park at 9 a.m., the chicken and noodle dinner at 11 a.m. at the Orient Plymouth Congregational Church, a 2:30 p.m. Quilts of Valor presentation in front of the bar uptown, a 4 p.m. parade and an evening barbecue meal at the Orient United Methodist Church.

Some the new activities this year are a bubble blowing contest at 11:15 a.m., a sexy legs contest at 11:45 a.m., a baby contest and a mullet contest. A barbecue contest previously announced has been canceled because of lack of entries.

Dueling Pianos takes the stage 6:30-9:30 p.m. and will be followed by a fireworks show from Top Notch Fireworks.

“We’ve got all the kids activities, and later in the night you can send the kids home and there’s the evening entertainment, bags tournament, and more. There’s a little something for everybody,” Madison said. “We have a big list of sponsors and without them, we wouldn’t be able to put on this amazing event. A big shout out to our sponsors because they do an amazing job.”

A full schedule for Pumpkin Days can be found on Facebook by searching for Orient Pumpkin Days.