HOT pumpkin soup was the order of the day for the 8000-plus visitors to the Collector Pumpkin Festival on May 3 and 4 with Mother Nature serving up an early taste of winter.
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But the small community of Collector, a tiny village between Goulburn and Canberra, served up a warm welcome to the thousands of visitors who braved the icy conditions to attend the iconic autumn event.
One of the main attractions was the biggest pumpkin, which went to first-time exhibitor Rick Downes from Robertson with a whopping 266.5 kilogram monster pumpkin.
Tracey Randal from Rye Park came second with a 170kg pumpkin and Mr Downes took third prize with a 147kg pumpkin.
Produce and market stalls did a brisk trade, while food and coffee vendors were kept busy warming the visitors from the inside out.
The entertainers on the main stage didn't miss a beat with varied genres of country, rock'n'roll and folk keeping the day upbeat as well as entertainment from local dance academies.
The scarecrow building section and hay maze were a massive hit with the two quickly invaded by the younger visitors.
The Collector Pumpkin Festival began in 2003 and now in its 11th year, has grown considerably.
The festival's humble beginnings were as a small event in Collector's community hall with three big pumpkins and a couple of stalls out front.
Collector Pumpkin Festival president Gary Poile has been involved with the festival from the start, holding the president's position for the past five years.
"I have been involved during the entire 11 years the festival has been running," Mr Poile said.
"In the past four to five years we recognised the festival was becoming an extremely popular event.
"So we decided to really take a plunge and put everything we had into the festival and it has worked out well for us.
"The committee puts in an amazing amount of work and effort into organising this event and this year it was very pleasing to see it all payed off."
Entries in the baking competitions were more than double from the previous year and organisers were struggling to find enough room to display the exhibits of carved and decorated pumpkins.
Mr Poile said they raised more than $10,000 that would go towards local community projects.
He said planning would now start for the next Pumpkin Festival to be held on May 3, 2015.
