You’ve seen them already, you know they’re here; pumpkin people. It’s their time once again, and with each appearance I hear in my head a guy like Gary Owens of Laugh-In fame intoning deeply: “They’re everywhere. In homes; gardens; on rooftops and balconies. Kings County in October, and the pumpkin people are back!�

Not only have they returned, but with a vengeance, and I’m happy to say the party’s just getting started.

The Town of Kentville did its bit recently, handing out cornstalks, clothes, pumpkins and plenty of good advice on how to make a pumpkin person. But expand your horizons , folks, and go right out of your gourd.

What the heck? Get into the spirit of this thing.

Have pumpkin soup on Saturday, right after your visit to Kentville’s Centre Square for the town’s annual Harvest Festival.

The fun goes from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes everything from a pumpkin people workshop, hayrides, dance demonstrations, kids’ crafts with pumpkins, pony rides, games, a bouncer and a duck pond for the little ones.

If Windsor’s a bit closer to where you hang your hat, savour the flavour at their Pumpkin Festival.

This weekend features the 22nd annual Pumpkin Weigh-Off, where some of the biggest jack-o-lanterns in the world will be onsite to dazzle and amaze you. The contest begins at 10 a.m.

But that’s not all. The 1st Atlantic Giant Strongman Competition comes to Windsor this weekend as well, featuring 14 of the mightiest men in Atlantic Canada. The competition is the brainchild of Kentville’s Crystal Connors, whose husband Grant has won the Atlantic Strongman Competition held during the Apple Blossom Festival for the past two years running.

There will be mini-train rides on the Pumpkin Special from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Trecothic Creek and Windsor Railway, plus all kinds of other special events to round out (get it? Pumpkin? Round? Whatever!) the weekend.

This weekend, Oct. 15, Windsor hosts its annual Pumpkin Regatta, where intrepid souls will brave Lake Pisiquid in a “Parade of Pumpkin Paddlers�.

It’s all part of a much larger picture; the Valley Pumpkin Fest. From Windsor to Kentville and places in-between, communities locally have banded together to create this comprehensive mosaic of pumpkin pleasure.

There are corn mazes, a pumpkin decorating challenge in Wolfville, a pumpkin-carving workshop in Hantsport, Haunted Garden at the Irving Botanical Centre, Gallery of the Gourds at Churchill House in Hantsport, and a Halloween Dance at the Windsor Community Centre.

For all the details, go to www.valleypumpkinfest.ca">www.valleypumpkinfest.ca">www.valleypumpkinfest.ca and fill your social calendar. Then put the pumpkin pie front and centre on your Thanksgiving table, sit back and enjoy. Mm-mmm! Have a good one, y’all.