Thurmont’s 2023 Great Pumpkin Pick-Up Event

Daniel Genemans is shown with some of the approximately 1,000 pumpkins and gourds collected from the town of Thurmont in the Second Annual Great Pumpkin Pick-Up event on November 25.

Sponsored by the Thurmont Green Team to prevent pumpkins from going into the landfill and feed area farm and zoo animals, the pickup was made possible by 20 volunteers, from ages 8 to 81, combing  the town streets collecting pumpkins and gourds placed on the curb by Thurmont residents. Once collected, they were dropped off at The Catoctin Wildlife Preserve, Rise and Shine Farm, Catoctin Mountain Farm, and Deer Run Farm, to provide food for bison and other hoofed zoo animals, pigs, and chickens.