For the 8th time Brainerd held their Great Pumpkin Festival at Gregory Park. Among the activities were a slide, races, contests and tattoos.
Brainerd Parks and Recreation Director, Tony Sailer, says, “This is our 8th annual Great Pumpkin Festival and every years it’s been a great turn out. It’s a great community event where people from all ages can get together and just have some old fashion fun.”
However Gregory Park puts a twist to their old fashion fun. It’s also the Fall World Championships. And tournament emcee Bill Musel says having these World Championships held put Brainerd on the map.
Musel says, “Because it brings a name to Brainerd. A lot of people think Brainerd is all about Paul Bunyan and the Blue Ox and stuff like that. No no no no no, we got the Sack Race Championships of the World, we got the Wheel Barrel Championships of the World, we got the Pie Eating Championships of the World. Are you kidding? Right here in Brainerd, right here in Gregory Park.”
I even got into the action winning the Lakeland News vs Miss United States Queens world sack racing championships. And finished second during the World Pumpkin Pie Championships and World Pumpkin Roll Championships. But these competitions aren’t for your average competitor.
Miss Teen Baxter and Pie Throwing Champion, Alicia Andrews, says, “From participating in a few of the events you have to have a lot of athleticism and only the world’s finest athletes can do this.”
World Champion parent and trainer, Kevin Yeager, says, “The first thing to say is the training is year round. Even starting tomorrow, we will be on top of this. My family my kids, we do a lot of running we do a weight program. We put in a full weight room in our house. So we take this very seriously and that’s how we win pretty much every event.”
This year the Women of Today sold fuel to the world championship competitors as well as issued them free tattoos to be the competitors’ logos. They say all the proceeds would be donated to local charities.
The local Miss United States Queens helped Musel referee the World Championships

By — Lakeland PBS

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