Laconia Pumpkin Festival, newly minted and in the hands of city organizers, drew crowds of thousands throughout Saturday and into the night.

The city took over the festival, long a tradition in New Hampshire, and rebranded it as Laconia Pumpkin Festival this year. Organizers, led by Parks and Recreation Director Amy Lovisek, worked tirelessly for 6.5 months to pull it off.

“We built it, and they came,” Lovisek said Saturday morning on Main Street. Her stress levels had decreased significantly, she said, after all vendors were set up and running. There were nearly 200 spread throughout downtown, which was blocked off to create a pedestrian-only thoroughfare.

“It’s been a labor of love, that’s for sure,” she said. “There’s no more planning, this is it.”

It was an all-hands-on-deck situat

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