SANDWICH — On a warm autumn Sunday, hundreds of people from on- and off-Cape waited at least an hour in line to buy glass pumpkins from the Sandwich Glass Museum’s ninth annual PumpkinFest.
The event featured about 1,000 glass pumpkins from 11 glass artists, most of them from the Cape.
“I’m really glad they had it,” said Sandwich resident Susan Driscoll, who attends the festival almost every year. “I was afraid they’d cancel it.”
Driscoll, whose birthday is in October, considers herself a “pumpkin baby,” and has a tradition of buying a little pumpkin for herself each year.
Driscoll said she found Sunday’s event better organized than those from previous years. Being able to attend it this year during COVID-19 made her feel like “normal might be around the corner,” she said.
Each year, the museum usually sets up a tent where people can wander to browse the glass pumpkins for sale. To take precautions, however, the museum displayed all of the pumpkins in the open on a table, with people lining up one by one to view them. They picked out their favorites and purchased them at the end of the table, and staff took the pumpkins to another table to wrap them.
In keeping with standard COVID-19 protocols, attendees were required to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart.
Many who attended Sunday said they liked the new format better as it allowed them to look at the pumpkins by themselves, according to Katharine Campbell, the museum’s executive director.
“People have been super delightful, just very patient, understanding that it’s a COVID year,” Campbell said.
New this year, the museum featured its Pumpkin of the Year, where one of the museum’s featured artists designs a pumpkin specially for the festival. Isabel Green, this year’s featured artist, designed a purple pumpkin with a ghost on it. The museum so far has sold about 40 of them, Campbell said.
PumpkinFest started in 2011 as a local take on Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s annual Pumpkin Patch sale, Campbell said. In the beginning, the event also included food and games behind the museum, but organizers found that people were more interested in just the pumpkins.
“It seems to be a thing that people collect,” she said, “and they’ll take it in any way they can get it. This is one of those ways.”
Pumpkins, which are synonymous with fall family holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving, also represent comfort for many, Campbell said.
Sandwich resident Kailey Cullin attended the festival for her fifth time. In what has become a tradition, she and her sister go every year and each buys a glass pumpkin to add to their family collection.
“It feels like the right thing to do when you live in town,” Cullin said. “I like supporting local artists. It’s nice to do something holiday-centric and normal.”
Theresa Chiriatti, of Centerville, bought two pumpkins Sunday. She found that the event went well despite the limitations and the virus. While the line was long, it was a beautiful day and the pumpkins were worth the wait, she said.
“They’re works of art,” she said. “They’re just so beautiful. I just love glass and I’ve been to the museum so many times.”
“(The museums) don’t have the regular stream of people coming in,” she said. “There’s so many businesses and entities that are closing because they don’t get the support. I think it’s important to support any way you can.”
A June survey conducted by the American Alliance of Museums found that many museums are at risk of permanent closure. In it, 33% of museum directors surveyed said they were not confident they would be able to survive 16 months without additional financial relief. The survey also found that 87% of directors reported they have only 12 months or less of financial operating reserves remaining.
“A lot of them are closing,” Campbell said. “It’s really scary.”
“We’re not a social service,” she continued. “We don’t keep people from homelessness or being hungry or not getting health care. We understand that that’s more important. But really a life without art is a pretty bleak idea. I really hope that it doesn’t come to that.”
Campbell appreciated the Sandwich community and others for coming to support the museum Sunday.
“These are hard times for all small museums, and we can use all the support we can get,” she said.
Follow Jessica Hill on Twitter: @jess_hillyeah.
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