The Keene Pumpkin Festival (Keene, NH) held the world record for a display of lighted pumpkins, until recently. According to PumpkinFestival.com, a Boston event in 2006 trumped the Keene Pumpkin Festival, amassing 30,128 lit jack-o-lanterns, surpassing Keene's 2003 record of 28,952. Now every fall, the Keene Pumpkin Festival will be striving to recapture its glory days. In 2007, they fell short: the count at the 2007 Keene Pumpkin Festival was 25,644.

But the Keene Pumpkin Festival is about more than just numbers. Imagine a whole town undertaking the equivalent of decorating its porch for the harvest season! Well, that's just what happens at the Keene Pumpkin Festival and the many other pumpkin festivals held each autumn. I recommend that homeowners interested in decorating outdoors make a mental note to attend such events held locally: you can pick up some tips for decorating your own porch -- or deck, patio, gazebo, etc. You'll find all sorts of creative carvings, and many of the carvings aren't Halloween-oriented, making them appropriate for late-autumn decorations, too.

_{Photo ©2007 David Beaulieu (licensed to About, Inc.)}