Almost 1,500 people made their way to Roland Saturday for the annual Roland Pumpkin Fair.
    
This was the 25th annual Roland Pumpkin Fair, and organizers say it was the best one yet, with more visitors to the community than in the past.
    
"I think partly because it's something different from the other festivals in the area." notes Organizer Glen Phillips when asked why this fair continues to be so successful year after year. "But I also thinks it's partly because of the volunteers and supporters we have, that keep people coming back."

Phillips went on to say, the fair has changed quite a bit from that first very cold festival 25 years go, noting back then the winning pumpkin was about 400 pounds and this year they're looking at pumpkins almost 1,000 heavier than that.

The winning pumpkin this year weighed in at 1348.2 pounds, beating last year's winner by over 50 pounds. The winner was grown by 13 year old Milan Lukes of Winnipeg, who says care is the biggest factor when growing a pumpkin, but that's not all.

"Everything from pruning to pest control, to soil analysis, to 48 foot long soil heater cables to genetics...oh so much stuff." This was only Lukes third year taking part in the weigh off, and was shocked to be the winner. "Wow! This is only my third year. The first year it was only 500 pounds...that was nothing, second year I doubled that and then this, so it's a lot to take in."

Organizer Arthur Cameron says everything went so well Saturday, right down to the weather. When asked about the past 25 years of the festival Cameron talked about those first years when a couple men could get the winning pumpkins up on the scales, and with the entries they get these days they've had to employ the use of things like electric hoists, slings and forklifts, just to get the weigh in complete. Other changes this year according to Cameron include more seating in the arena for the very popular weigh off, more craft tables and a camera on the pumpkin scale so the audience can be part of the action while the pumpkins and other entries are being weighed.