Kudos to the hard-working folks at the Webster Recreation Center for hosting another amazing Pumpkins on Parade Saturday night.
If you missed it, you’re clearly among the few in our town who did. I stopped by early for about an hour, and when I left at around 7:45 (only 45 minutes after the “official” start of the event), the line of kids, moms, dads, and grandparents stretched halfway down the Rec Center’s long driveway. I’ve been covering the parade since it began in 2020, and in all those years I can’t recall ever seeing it that busy.
It helped a lot that the weather was amazing — not too cold, not windy, and definitely not raining, like it was last year. It was nothing short of miserable last year. (I suspect that many of the families who were there last night were making up for staying home last year.) A recent Recreation Center Facebook post reported that attendance was close to 5,000 people. It also said that there were about 800 jack-o-lanterns this year — 400 created by community members and another 400 from Rec Center staff members — which was definitely a record.
That huge crowd enjoyed not only good weather, but a greatly expanded series of decorations and lights and scary stuff standing and hanging along the trail … in addition, of course, to the 800 creative jack-o-lanterns that lined the trail and led the way.
There were inflatable ghosts and witches, lots of sheet-draped ghosts hanging in the trees, colorful paper lanterns, twinkly lights along the bridge railings and a photo-opp area. But my favorite new attraction was the extensive, brightly illuminated woodland scene tucked back off the trail (check the photo gallery to see what I mean).
And of course, at the end of the trail (after you walked through the haunted house), Rec Center staff and volunteers were handing out donuts, apples and cider, and families enjoyed games, a hay-bale maze, rolly slide, another photo opp area, and more. There were even vendors. I was especially delighted, by the way, to see all of the families — including moms and dads — who dressed in constume for the occasion.
As usual, I took lots of photos, especially of my favorite jack-o-lanterns. If you’d like to see the whole Facebook gallery, click here. And if you don’t have Facebook, click here.
Well done, Rec Center. Well done.
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(posted 10/25/2026)
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