Fundraising, Pumpkins by the pier, zip lining, rock climbing, pony rides, and a farmers market all a Harbor Village!

Halloween at Harbor Village features Festivities for families coming to the coast all October Long!

Half Moon Bay, Ca: Locals, tourists and casual day trippers coming out to the coast will have added reason to visit the Princeton area businesses as Halloween invades Harbor Village from Oct. 1st-31st. Halloween at Harbor Village will feature month long activities and events including their Pumpkins by the Pier Pumpkin patch which is open 7 days per week, Kids Jumpers, Costume and Pumpkin Carving contests, prizes and other family related activities will kick off October.

Overview of Halloween at Harbor Village Events taking place:

- Pony rides and Petting Zoo- every Saturday and Sunday in October

- Sundays Farmers Market with live music every Sunday

- Rock climbing, Zorb balls, and slack lining will take place Sept 30, Oct 21, and Oct 28

- Zip Lining Oct 7, and 14th

All Month Long Halloween Activities at Harbor Village:

• The “Pumpkins By The Pier” pumpkin patch will be Open 7 Days Per Week through October 31st

• Inflatable Jumpers and activities for Kids. (Free use with purchase.)

• Exclusive discounts and coupon packages from local businesses given upon pumpkin purchase.

• Free Drawings and prizes, with grand prize drawing taking place

http://pumpkinsbythepieratharborvillage.blogspot.com/ Visit us for more information! Also charity events taking place!


Dear Resident, schools, and organizations!

As 2012 nears to an end, the Holiday Season at Harbor Village is just getting started. In the spirit of giving we are very excited to announce another year of partnering with local non-profits, charities and schools in our coast side community by offering 10% of sales of all Pumpkin and Christmas trees made to the local coastside organization of your choice. Simply select the charity when you purchase your Pumpkin or Christmas Tree at Harbor Village and we will keep you posted on the amount of money raised. Last year we brought in over $2,400 for local organizations through the Halloween and Christmas Season and we hope to surpass that amount this year.

We invite you to come out to Harbor Village and check out some of the many events taking place over the next few months.

Pumpkin Festival Background Information

The Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee

The Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee consists of an all-volunteer group of civic-minded citizens. The committee's goals are to make a lasting contribution to the preservation and beautification of the town's historic Main Street, to make donations to local non-profit organizations through a grant process, to fund college scholarships for local high school students, and to provide an exceptional fund-raising opportunity to local non-profits through participation in the Art & Pumpkin Festival.
In order to raise funds for their projects, they started the Art & Pumpkin Festival in 1971. Since the festival's inception, the committee has contributed more than $2.6 million dollars to various civic projects, community service organizations and Half Moon Bay High School student scholarships. Some of the Main Street projects funded by the committee at no cost to the city have included: the renovation of City Hall, the painting of historic buildings, the installation of old-fashioned street lights and wooden benches, the underground wiring of Main Street, the planting of trees and flower beds, the construction of Mac Dutra and Kitty Fernandez Parks, and the purchase of garbage receptacles and Christmas lights. Additionally, the committee spends thousands of dollars every year in the on-going maintenance of Main Street. They plant fresh flowers, re-furbish benches, and pay someone to clean up and sweep Main Street every week.
Read more about the Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee...

Festival a Civic Undertaking

The festival is a huge civic effort. Some thirty-five non-profit and community service groups participate in the festival by operating food and game booths. For most, the festival is their most lucrative fund-raising event of the year, enabling them to raise a substantial portion of their annual budget from the two-day festival. An estimated $500,000 is raised every year by local community service groups through food, beverage, game and parking sales at the Pumpkin Festival. By providing this opportunity for the non-profit sector, the Pumpkin Festival helps to perpetuate “giving" in the community, no small feat for a town without a base of large corporate donors.

The Pumpkin Industry on the Coast

Every autumn, thousands of Bay Area residents visit the coastside to pick pumpkins from the picturesque fields along Highways 1 and 92. More than 3,000 tons of pumpkins are grown each year by 15 or so commercial growers in the Half Moon Bay area. They ship pumpkins all over the United States and sell to many of the large retailers in the Bay Area. As always, this year there's a bumper crop.
The pumpkin boom can be traced back to growers in the area who began to plant pumpkins in the 1930's. In the early 30’s, teenager John Arata and his brother Clarence began planting pumpkin seeds to feed the family’s hogs. One day, they were hauling some of their pumpkins along Highway One back to the farm when a passing motorist stopped and asked if he could buy a few. The Arata’s sold the pumpkins for a quarter and a booming pumpkin-picking business and tourist attraction was born.

Harbor Village Pumpkin Festival: More Info

Parking

There will be parking at the south end of Main Street near Highway, Half Moon Bay High School (Main St. just north of Hwy. 92), and at the Community Center/Shoreline Station complex, located just north of Kelly Avenue on Highway 1. Many of these parking areas are operated by local non-profit groups who charge a nominal parking fee. There is also limited free parking on several side streets.

Handicapped Parking

There will be specially marked handicapped parking on Purissima Street between Correas Street and Kelly Avenue.

Street Closures

Main Street will be closed to traffic from Mill Street south to Monte Vista Lane throughout festival weekend. Southbound Main Street will not be accessible from Highway 92 from 8 AM to 6 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Main Street will re-open at approximately 9 PM on Sunday. Departing town, Highway 92 eastbound will not be accessible from Main Street (either from the north or the south). The only way to go eastbound on Highway 92 is from Highway 1.

First Aid/Lost & Found

Is located in the Small Hall on the IDES Grounds, the main food court and music stage area in the center of the festival.

Diaper Changing/Family Rest Stop

The Community United Methodist Church will be hosting the “Rest Your Wear Soles” Diaper Changing/Rest Area. The church is located at the corner of Miramontes and Johnston Streets, one block east of Main Street.

No Pets, Please

The City of Half Moon Bay will be enforcing its ordinance prohibiting pets on the festival grounds. For the safety, comfort, and courtesy of your pets and festival-goers, please leave your pets at home. Large crowds make it a very stressful and dangerous environment for pets.

Dates/Hours/Directions

The free-admission festival will be held on October 13-14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Main Street between Miramontes and Spruce Streets in Half Moon Bay. To get to Half Moon Bay, take 101 or 280 to Highways 92 or 84 west. You can also get to Half Moon Bay via Highway 1 from both north and south.

Planting the Seed

The Pumpkin Festival was created by the newly formed Main Street Beautification Committee in 1971 as a means for restoring historic downtown Half Moon Bay. That first year, buildings were painted, trees were planted and a legend was born. Since then, the festival has helped raise several million dollars for civic projects and community service organizations throughout the coastside.

Harbor Village Pumpkin Arts and Festival: Fine Art, Harvest-Inspired Crafts

Buyers and browsers will find thousands of handcrafted items in well-stocked booths covering
several city blocks. Meet 250 of America’s top artists and craftmakers—offering great variety and price points to satisfy every budget—on hand with their latest creations. Featuring original work in sculpture, paintings, photography, glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, leather, wood, metal and mixed media, the festival is considered among the top art shows in the country. Hand-blown glass pumpkins, beautiful vases, flatware, clocks, dishes, wall and table decorations, paperweights, stained and beveled glass, etchings, sculptures, photography, oil and watercolor paintings, beadwork, gold and silver jewelry, vests, handbags, hats, wallets, footwear, windchimes, and waterfalls will be among the thousands of items one-of-a-kind items available. "We have longtime festival favorites returning as well as many talented, new artists this year," said Kris Mason of the Pumpkin Festival Committee. "It’s the perfect opportunity to meet the artists that do the work."

Harbor Village Pumpkin Patch: The First Pumpkin Festival Mobile App

Technology meets tradition with the release of the new Pumpkin Festival mobile app. The Pumpkin Festival app has been approved by Apple and is now available at the Apple App Store for FREE for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Developed by Half Moon Bay’s Phondini Partners, the app is designed to enhance the festival experience for users by providing everything from a fact sheet with key festival information, a detailed site map, event and entertainment schedules, food and beverage listings, and “Top Ten” list to a list of local pumpkin patches, door-to-door directions, push messaging alerts, special deals, contests, trivia and more! Download the app.

Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with World Record Mega-Prize

 The Big Week launches with the World's Greatest Gourd Growers and their enormous orbs gathering for the 38th Annual SAFEWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PUMPKIN WEIGH-OFF—the Super Bowl of weigh-offs—on Monday, October 8, (7 a.m., on the IDES Grounds, 735 Main Street, in Half Moon Bay). Once again, a special $5,000 bonus mega-prize will be awarded to any grower that breaks the world record at Half Moon Bay. The current world record is 1,818.5 pounds, held by Jim and Kelsey Bryson of Ormstown, Quebec, Canada. Superstar grower Leonardo Urena's gargantuan, gasp-inspiring 1,704-pound mega-gourd set a new California State record and obliterated a formidable field of heavyweight contenders in winning the 2011 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Urena is expected to return along with a host of accomplished, veteran growers to contend for the $5,000 world record prize and an estimated $20,000 in additional prize money. The grand champion mega-gourd, along with the top five weigh-off pumpkins, will be displayed at the Art & Pumpkin Festival, October 13-14.

Half Moon Bay: Where Pumpkins (and Apps) Are King

World Pumpkin Capital Hosts Epic Festival, October 13-14, 2012

It's The Royal Granddaddy of Festivals

Autumn is a spectacularly special season on the fertile, scenic coast around Half Moon Bay. Magnificent vistas of seaside farm country dotted with vast, rolling fields of orange, scarecrows, barns, and pick-your-own pumpkin patches. It's the perfect time of year and the perfect place to celebrate the beauty and bounty of the fall season and Half Moon Bay does it like nobody else. The world-famous Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival is the season’s signature event, drawing hordes of visitors to the “World Pumpkin Capital” for an epic festival on historic Main Street. This year’s special 42nd Annual festival will be held on October 13-14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Titanic, mind-boggling, Volkswagen-sized weigh-off champion pumpkins on display, the mesmerizing and remarkably talented “Picasso of pumpkin carvers” sculpting and shaping a monster 1,200+ pound pumpkin into a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, harvest-inspired crafts by America’s top artists, the richest/creamiest/tastiest pumpkin pie on the planet, three stages of blockbuster entertainment, everyone’s favorite home-spun parade, enchanting events and contests for the whole family, the never-ending search for the Great Pumpkin, and a bumper crop of 3,000+ tons of the beloved orange orb waiting to be picked from one of the many rustic pumpkin patches around town are among the featured, not-to-be forgotten attractions. It’s the real thing … the authentic “autumn classic”.