Carving out a festival in Tualatin

The city of Tualatin would like to see the annual West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta grow

By Jennifer Clampet

The Times, Nov 2, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

JOHN LARIVIERE / For The Times

MOVE THAT PUMPKIN — Dressed in the spirit of the event, Chad Epert, of Portland, gets an early lead during the first race at the annual pumpkin regatta in Tualatin. Close behind in the polka-dot hat is Jeff Smith, of Molalla.

ADVERTISEMENTS

TUALATIN – The city of Tualatin would like to see the annual Giant Pumpkin Regatta carved into something bigger – something much, much bigger.

The regatta is strange and unusual. It pits growers from the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers against one another in a lap around the Lake of the Commons in Tualatin using hollowed out pumpkins as boats.

But the regatta is also unique. Other giant pumpkin associations – yes, that’s right, there’s more than one – across the country offer similar events for their growers as a way to have fun with their prizes as the competitive giant growers’ season winds down.

But on the West Coast, the regatta is the only event of its kind, and for the third consecutive year the races were held in Tualatin. On Saturday the annual West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta drew between 1,500 and 2,000 people to the Tualatin Commons, according to estimates from Tualatin Parks and Recreation Coordinator Carl Switzer.

“I was amazed at the number of people who called about the races,” Switzer, the event coordinator, said on the Monday following the event. Families crowded around the lake at noon on Saturday as the first heat of rowers gave their all to paddle 16 pumpkin boats without tipping over.

“It’s odd. It’s different and fun. And there’s no other events like it,” Switzer said. All those factors could explain the popularity of the new event and the reasoning for why the regatta could become Tualatin’s next big festival.

Switzer said he’d like to see the regatta grow into something big like Portland’s version of the Red Bull Flugtag. In 2004, the Portland Flugtag had more than 50,000 spectators watching 25 teams take soapbox derby to a soaring new level. In Flugtag events, decorated derby boxes are pushed off a ramp to see which cart can travel the farthest before splashing into the water.

1 | 2 Next Page >>