The Great Pumpkin Event is back on Roosevelt Island this Saturday, Nov. 7, from 11 AM to 2 PM, on the Upper Lawn at Manhattan Park, 20-30 River Road, across from Foodtown. iDig2Learn announced the free, all-ages event in its November newsletter, “Pumpkin Season,” sent the night of Monday, Nov. 2, and RIOC followed with an advisory on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The newsletter credits grants from CitizensNYC, Green Fund NYC and RIOC for bringing it back. “Bring your pumpkin to gift, scoop or smush or just come by,” it says, then adds: “pumpkins not required.” The listing is on iDig2Learn’s Great Pumpkin Event page.
“Don’t know what to do with your pumpkins after Halloween? Bring them to The Great Pumpkin Event and give them a second life!” RIOC said in its Nov. 3 advisory, which invites residents “to enjoy a fun afternoon celebrating pumpkins and sustainability.”
iDig2Learn is a project of the Open Space Institute, a nonprofit 501c3 public charity that serves as its fiscal sponsor. The Lighthouse has described the group as a long-time Public Purpose Fund recipient.
Why the Great Pumpkin Event starts with food
Like RIOC, iDig2Learn starts with what happens to pumpkins after Halloween. “Meanwhile, as pumpkins fill our apartments we are excited to take action and change that over-a-billion-pumpkins-each-year-to-landfill statistic,” iDig2Learn wrote.
Its answer is to eat them first. “How? Well, by eating that yummy squash, which is valued globally as a delicious food source. So in addition to composting those past-their-prime pumpkins to enrich our NYC soils, let’s celebrate with food.”
That means free tastings from local chefs Poppa Unlimited, The Soup Lady, Sweetly Yours, Nneji and Cakes by Andrea Jackson, plus baked goods by Pain d’Avignon. Foodtown is supplying coffee and cocoa, and the cider comes from Wengerd Farm.
What else is on the lawn
There are art activities and bouquet making, fall-inspired body butters to sample with NiAva Body Bar, and the RI Garden Club’s Compost Critter Table. Yongmei will lead pumpkin seed scooping.
Then comes the smooshing. Gushy pumpkins get mashed for community compost, thanks to partners Big Reuse and Haki Compost Collective.
New this year, families can stop by to meet Wild Stems NYC or join a small-group bouquet making workshop for children. RIOC’s advisory calls it flower bouquet making in timed sessions. Each 30-minute session is limited to 5 children. The newsletter asks families to RSVP for the noon session or the 12:30 PM session. iDig2Learn’s website also lists an 11:30 AM session.
Birding before the pumpkins
The same morning, from 9 to 11 AM, Local Nature Lab presents Birding with Julius Marinov on Roosevelt Island, led by the local birder. It is free with an RSVP, and the newsletter says there are “a few spots left.” It calls the pairing “the perfect Roosevelt Island day,” with birding before the Pumpkin Event.
Volunteers and a rain date
iDig2Learn is looking for volunteers. To help, email idig2learn@gmail.com with the word PUMPKIN in the subject line and say which shift you want: setup at 10 AM, the event itself from 11 AM to 2 PM, or cleanup from 2 to 3 PM.
If the weather does not cooperate, both iDig2Learn and RIOC list Sunday, Nov. 8, as the rain date. The newsletter says it will be at the same location and time.
Pumpkins that miss Saturday still have somewhere to go. The newsletter lists a weekly food scrap drop-off with Haki Compost Collective: green bins at Motorgate every Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM, in partnership with Big Reuse and RIOC. The Daily has written before about composting on Roosevelt Island and the Saturday drop-off at Motorgate Plaza.
Free at the Door, Paid Somewhere Else
The Red Bus is one of Roosevelt Island’s most popular public services, and for good reason. For residents near the subway and Tram, it may be a convenience. For residents at Manhattan Park, the Octagon, Coler and the northern WIRE buildings, it can be the connection that makes the rest of the Island accessible.
