Annual Pumpkin Painting at Community Library Becomes an All-Ages Event

By Heather Skinner

COBLESKILL — On October 18th from 11AM-1PM, patrons were invited to visit the Community Library and get into the Fall spirit with their annual Pumpkin Painting Party. For both attendees and Library staff, the Painting Party has become a tradition they look forward to every year. A similar program went on before Covid, and its popularity has kept it running.

This marked Library Assistant Courtney Little's third year working the Pumpkin Painting Party, and the first year it changed from kid-only to all-ages. Kids, teens, and adults took part in picking the perfect pumpkin and creating a variety of paintings, which Little said getting to see is her favorite part; in the past people have made football team logos, characters, and more.

This year, the variety of attendee pumpkin paintings included a clown by Jennifer Burns, and an exploration in painting multiple color layers by Hunny. Masan shared a whole story about his painted pumpkin who looked like a mummy and ate too much candy. The Irving family noticed the event posting on Facebook mentioned, “A limited number of pumpkins will be available on a first come, first served basis, or you can bring your own gourd to paint.” So, they brought their own pumpkins. Once pumpkins were complete, but paint was still left over, kids asked to keep the painting fun going with paper. Gemma made a bat, and Masan made a map.

Little, Adult Services Librarian Don LaPlant, and Library Page Joey Barbato were ready with the paper, paper plates, paint color choices, aprons and smocks, a variety of paintbrush options, and lots of encouragement for all the pumpkin painting artists. Pumpkins for the program were donated by Stanton Farm.

LaPlant rejoined Community Library staff over the summer and Barbato has been a Page for a little over a year now, making this the 2nd year Barbato has gotten to help with the Pumpkin Painting Party. As a Page, Barbato shared about the enjoyment of getting to see the variety of books people like while putting them back in their locations and using art skills to help patrons with arts and crafts. Barbato dubbed the Pumpkin Painting Party a favorite among opportunities to see kids work and use their artistic abilities. Barbato also enjoyed getting help with origami art a couple weeks back.

Make sure to follow The Community Library on Facebook and through their website for event updates. Little anticipates that next year will continue this new tradition of the annual Pumpkin Painting Party being for all ages, welcoming kids through adults to come as a family or individually.

The Community Library is located at 110 Union Street and on the calendar for the end of October and November you’ll find reoccurring programs like Paws for Reading, Storytime, Game Explorers, Trivia Night, Short Fiction Workshop, Day Writers, Fan Favorites Book Club, Teen Dungeons & Dragons, Adult D&D, and Tabling Tuesday. Special events include October 26th at 2PM Marni Graff Author’s Hour talk about a book set in Schoharie titled, Death in the Orchard. October 28th is Teen Halloween from 6:00-7:30 PM to, “Celebrate spooky season with a party at the library! Make crafts, play games, eat candy, and hang out with other teens. Costumes encouraged! Open to middle and high schoolers (ages 11-18).” Website pre-registration is required for November 20th Engineering Challenge: Pneumatic Machine with the Schoharie Mohawk Initiative for Science and Technology from 4:30-6PM for grades 4-8.

(Left) Annmarie and Tiffany Trossbach look forward to coming to the Community Library Pumpkin Painting Party every year. The pumpkin selection behind them was donated by Stanton Farm. (Top middle) Courtney (Library Assistant), Don (Librarian), and Joey (Library Page) at the ready to share event supplies and friendly smiles. (Bottom middle) Chase, Landon, Trevor, & Meghan Irving travel from Boca Raton, FL to visit family and the Community Library each year. This year in addition to Pumpkin Painting, they enjoyed Storytime and Paws for Reading programs. (Top right) Jennifer Burns comes every year and painted a clown design this year. Mel is looking forward to carving a pumpkin. (Bottom right) Don’s arm can be seen as he took a photo after gathering Hunny, Gemma, and Masan together with their completed pumpkins. The ambience was perfect during the event with festive Fall tablecloths and a fun Halloween scene with music playing on the TV.

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