Start your pumpkins!

"Ladies and gentlemen, start your pumpkins!" If you haven't heard those six words that begin the Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Regatta every year, it's time to get out there. Vanessa Roberts, one of the event coordinators, tells us that the carved-out and decorated pumpkin boats are actually called "PVCs"---personal vegetable crafts---and each person who enters (it's free) is responsible for bringing their own. There are three classes: first, the paddling class, where you're in the pumpkin and there aren't any helpful flotation devices; second, the motorized class, where you're in the pumpkin but can have an outboard motor; and third, the experimental class, where the pumpkin is used as the flotation device but "any means can be used." Roberts says most experimental crafts have been catamarans with three 300-pound pumpkins. Other events for the day include a golden gourd scavenger hunt and the Children's Wish Foundation Parade of Pumpkin Paddlers. Go to worldsbiggestpumpkins.com for full details.