NANAIMO – It might look a little different than in years past, but the annual Shady Mile pumpkin display still draws a crowd.
Coleen Budd, who has lived in the area since 2004, said the tradition has changed and dwindled a little over the years given growth and development along Jingle Pot Rd.
“When the fire hall wasn’t there, people used to put pumpkins all along the whole road, a whole mile of pumpkins and a man used to come at night and light them all.”
Now a majority of pumpkins find a home at the East Wellington Fire Hall, with other pockets dotted along Jingle Pot Rd.
The display is a far cry from its heyday but is still an attraction after Halloween.
“You couldn’t get up on the road,” Budd said. “If there was an emergency I often used to think ‘how would a car or ambulance get through?’ It was wall to wall cars both ways…that went on for at least half an hour to an hour.”
Trouble has been to a minimum with the main issues being people smashing pumpkins in the days following.
“”They think its fun I guess, I don’t but anyway. I wish it could go back to having it the way it was. It was kinda cool when they did it all the way along the whole road.”
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