By Canadian Press

Nova Scotia’s annual pumpkin regatta sunk by extreme weather, lack of gourds

Sep 17, 2019 | 12:59 PM

WINDSOR, N.S. — Nova Scotia’s annual Pumpkin Regatta has been cancelled following a disastrous season in the pumpkin patch.

The race across Lake Pesaquid in Windsor, N.S., features paddlers using large, hollowed-out gourds as small boats.

The majority of the enormous gourds used for the regatta — most of them pumpkins — typically come from the Dill Family Farm in Windsor.

Each regatta requires about 60 gourds, each of them weighing up to 800 pounds.

Those organizing the Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Festival say the October regatta had to be cancelled because the pumpkin-growing season was hurt by a wet spring, followed by a dry summer — and then post-tropical storm Dorian left the struggling crop badly damaged.

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It would have been the 21st year for the regatta.

“The Dills, like so many other Nova Scotia farmers are still surveying the damage from Dorian,” the organizers said in a statement released Tuesday.

“Simply, there will not be enough gourds to supply PVCs — personal vegetable craft — to the pumpkin paddlers.”

The Canadian Press