Annual Pumpkin Parades 2022, 2021 and 2020

Friends of Tooting Common run an annual Pumpkin Parade at the end of October.

Pumpkin Parade 2022

FOTC’s annual Pumpkin Parade on Tooting Common on 30 October 2022 was a very successful event, with a very good number of people and families attending. There were some excellent carved pumpkins in the three categories – for funniest; most artistic; and scariest – and also some excellent fancy dress. And, alongside the competitions, there was a very interesting session on willow star decoration.

FOTC donated the proceeds from the event – £100 – to Royal Trinity Hospice, to help support the excellent work they do.

Pumpkin Parade 2021

The Friends of Tooting Common Pumpkin Parade returned to the common in 2021, after the virtual parade in 2020.

For the second year running, the Friends of Tooting Common ran the Pumpkin Parade on Hallowe’en itself … results are below. Thank you to everyone who entered, everyone who spread the word, and to the judges and organisers … particularly to Peter, Judy, Clare, Leonie, Mike, and Simon.

The weather was glorious for the parade, despite the forecast and lots of rain over the previous few days. As in previous years, there were classes for the Funniest, Scariest and Most Artistic carved pumpkins, as well as fancy dress for under fives and over fives.

Thank you to everyone who entered the competitions, and to people who came and watched. Hope you had as much fun as us, and the trick or treating later on was great fun.

Entry to the competitions was free but we invited donations to the Royal Trinity Hospice towards the great work they do.  We are very pleased that £170 has been raised so far.

We’re delighted to have returned to hosting events on the common (although events in cyberspace were fun too), and look forward to holding more events soon.

Stay safe.

Thanks from the Friends of Tooting Common.

2nd November 2021

Some photos from the event are below … pumpkins were named by us, not by the entrants (or the pumpkins themselves) so apologies if some aren’t quite right.

The winner’s table …
Funniest: 1. One pumpkin on top of another; 2. A bit ill; 3. The twins.
Most artistic: 1. Feathered cake; 2. Freaky hands; 3. Cat silhouette.

Pumpkin Parade 2020

For 2020, we needed to hold the Parade as a virtual event, because of the pandemic. The report on it is below……..

The Friends of Tooting Common present the 2020 *VIRTUAL PUMPKIN PARADE* (Hallowe’en, 31st October 2020) … results below. Thank you to everyone who entered, everyone who spread the word, and to the judges and organisers … Peter, Fio, and Geraldine.

So we couldn’t be out & about on the common, which was a shame as it was a lovely evening, but we did the next best thing & hosted the pumpkin parade in cyberspace. As in previous years, there were classes for the Funniest, Scariest and Most Artistic carved pumpkins!

Funniest Pumpkin results … In reverse order (although they’re all very funny) …

Funniest pumpkin: Highly commended for Holly
Funniest pumpkin: 3rd place for Olivia (not sure what the pumpkin was surprised by!)
Funniest pumpkin: 2nd place for “Boris and Donald” (Jen)
Funniest pumpkin: 1st place for Yvonne

Scariest Pumpkin results … In reverse order (and, I don’t know about you, but they all scared the heck out of me) …

Scariest pumpkin: Highly commended for the second from left, although they are all great! (Harriet)
Scariest pumpkin: 3rd place for a very greedy pumpkin (@Junctionmum)
Scariest pumpkin: 2nd place for another hungry pumpkin (Lily)
Scariest pumpkin: 1st place for the pumpkinosaurus (Eve)

Most Artistic Pumpkin results … And finally, in reverse order (and everyone has really gone to town in this category, so it was very difficult to judge) …

Most Artistic pumpkin: Highly commended for a traditional witch pumpkin (Maya & William)
Most Artistic pumpkin: 3rd place for an original face (Joseline)
Most Artistic pumpkin: 2nd place for the Lion King transformed into a pumpkin lantern (Ben)
Most Artistic pumpkin: 1st place for a clever and powerful piece of sculpture (Andrea)
And to finish, a montage of entries! Thank you in particular to all the children who entered – that’s Olivia, Rosie, Holly, George, Phoebe, Rory, Ben, Felix, Lily, Riley, Oskar, Eddie, Olie, Rosie, Jonny, Yvonne’s family (and sorry if we missed anyone) – and we’ll send you your certificates very soon – hope you had a fun Hallowe’en and managed to save some sweets to eat today.

So that’s all from us.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered their pumpkins in the Friends of Tooting Common virtual pumpkin parade (and a spooky BOOOOOOOO! to all the pumpkins that didn’t enter the parade, hope you are all having a fun Hallowe’en too.)

We’ll send out certificates as soon as we can, and we hope to see you all on the commons at our events as soon as we are allowed.

Stay safe.

Thanks from the Friends of Tooting Common