2024 Pumpkin Artists - How to Register and Updates

Dear Pumpkin Artists - 

We’re pleased to share artist dates and information for this year’s DAMARISCOTTA PUMPKINFEST & REGATTA. Important dates for our volunteer artists include:

  • Wednesday, 9/25, to Wednesday, 10/2 - hay bales available for painting

  • Friday, 10/11, and Saturday, 10/12 - giant pumpkins available for painting and/or carving; all pumpkin art to be completed by noon on Saturday, 10/12, before the afternoon start of the Giant Pumpkin Parade

If you are interested in being a 2024 volunteer pumpkin artist, please send an email to PumpkinArt@damariscottapumpkinfest.com with the information below & complete this waiver:

  • Your name

  • Phone number

  • Choose one: paint pumpkin, carve pumpkin, or paint hay bale

  • Choose one: I [have/have not] completed the online volunteer interest form/waiver (see below for details; this form is required to sign up!)

  • Name(s) of those working with you, if any (note that they will also need to sign up and complete the participant waiver)

  • Business with whom you'll be working (ONLY needed if you've been asked to serve as an in-house artist)

Our VOLUNTEER & PARTICIPANT WAIVER FORM is now part of our online volunteer interest form, which may be found below. Just fill out the form, mark "pumpkin artists" as your area of interest, sign your name, and submit! Note that the online form AND an email with the information above are BOTH needed in order to be added to this year's list of artists.

Details for Artists:

Wondering whether you should decorate a hay bale or pumpkin? Hay bales allow a week for work in a large, roofed space that is available 24/7, so work time is flexible; hay bales are also typically significantly larger than pumpkins...but there are only five of them! Pumpkins are entirely dependent on the weigh-offs and so numbers and sizes are highly variable, and the artwork happens during a much narrower window of time; these decorated pumpkins are very much the highlight of our festival.

Pumpkin artists provide their own paints and materials. We recommend using paints that are not water soluble! We also ask that you bring your own drop cloths to use while working. You are welcome to build/bring your own decorations to add to your pumpkins; please note that the festival is not responsible for any decorative items, and that all pumpkins will be retrieved on or before Monday, 10/21.

Please also note that the number of pumpkins on Main Street is difficult to forecast and will depend on growers and on this year's giant pumpkin crop. We are excited to showcase your pumpkin art again this year, but we note that volunteers are not guaranteed to get pumpkins and that artists will be assigned "first come, first served".

Additionally, we note that some pumpkins will be located right in town on Main Street, and others will be a bit farther afield; locations are typically selected based on both artist seniority and signup order, and definitely vary from year to year. 

Please send all questions about volunteering as a 2024 pumpkin artist to PumpkinArt@damariscottapumpkinfest.com. 

Pumpkin Art Through the Years

The Damariscotta Pumpkinfest is famous worldwide for displaying dozens of Giant Pumpkins on Main St in Damariscotta and Newcastle Maine, and around the area. Each year the pumpkins arrive on the Thursday afternoon before the festival - Pumpkin Deployment! - by flatbed and forklift. They are lovingly placed in position on stacked wooden pallets covered with burlap. The next morning, on Friday, a crew of volunteer Pumpkin Artists arrive at their assigned “pumpkin canvas” and spend all day transforming their pumpkin into a work of art. These photos below are just a few of the magical and whimsical designs over the years.