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FishHawk holds another great Pumpkin Festival

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By PAUL CATALA THE FISHHAWKER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 30, 2009

Like Bucs fans lined up in the bleachers, they were smiling, frowning, crying, laughing, pouting and staring with evil eyes.

Overlooking the Oct. 10 festivities at the 2009 Life is good Pumpkin Festival at FishHawk Ranch, hundreds of hand-carved pumpkins looked like they were judging passersbys, rather than being judged themselves.

This year, between 8,000 and 10,000 people attended the fourth-annual event, held from 3 to 10 p.m. in FishHawk Ranch's Park Square.

In addition the Pumpkin Festival, festival goers got to watch friends and neighbors compete in the Life is good Kids Foundation's "World's Greatest Backyard Athlete" competition, where the "athletes" competed in classic games such as a disk and bean bag toss, running an obstacle course and a pumpkin seed spitting distance contest.

"Life is good" is a non-profit foundation that supports various children's charities across the United States and locally. Festival proceeds went to Project Joy, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the healthy development of at-risk young children and the Tampa Bay chapter of HomeAid, dedicated to building temporary housing facilities for the homeless.

Since 2003, around $4 million has been raised for charities sponsored by "Life is good," said John Jacobs, who co-founded "Life is good" in Boston in 1989. He attended and participated in the Backyard Athlete events.

Since 2006, Newland Communities and "Life is good" have raised nearly $1 million dollars at Pumpkin Festivals for charities across the country. This year, Jacobs said roughly $50,000 was raised at the event, which will be split evenly between HomeAid and Project Joy.

"This is phenomenal. It's a great crowd and you can feel a real positive energy," he said, prior to participating in the relay event.

As she coordinated events on a breezy Saturday, Dawn Turner - the marketing manager with FishHawk's developer, Newland Communities - said a few games had been added to the Backyard Athlete menu, but the rest of the festival was similar to the last three. She said the bottom line is to bring folks together to have fun, see friends and help support worthy causes.

"This brings all people together for a good cause," she said. "We sometimes get blinded with the lifestyles we live out here and this is a way we can share our blessings with others."

Throughout the day around Park Square's plaza, festival goers were able to sample food from area restaurants, play games, have children's faces painted and carve pumpkins.

As they stood next to four long rows of carved pumpkins, James and Cameron Guenther watched as their 2 1/2-year-old son, Noah, examined the bright, orange gourds. The Riverview residents were making their first trip to the festival to watch a friend, Damian Dollard, compete in the Backyard Athlete competition.

"Really, this is great. It's fun and it's great to be able to support those charities through this. We helped our friend raise money for the Backyard competition," said Cameron Guenther.

Among the guests at the Pumpkin Festival were Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan; Scott Kalman, project manager for David Weekley Homes; and St. Petersburg Times columnist Ernest Hooper, who served as emcee for the Backyard Athlete competition.

A "Life is good" Pumpkin Festival was also held Oct. 10 in Clarksburg, Md., and another Oct. 24 in Atlanta.

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