West Galt Pumpkin People Map

We took a nice walking tour of the West Galt Pumpkin People over the weekend. This is a tradition the residents of West Galt (Cambridge Ontario) have gifted to people throughout Waterloo Region over the past several years. West Galt homeowners spend countless hours creating elaborate "Pumpkin People" displays aligned with an annual theme. This year's them was "Water, Water Everywhere".  The displays usually start to go up the weekend after Thanksgiving and come down after Halloween, so the week before Halloween is the best time to take this walk.

The official website for this event is here and normally this includes an interactive map which identifies the homes that are participating. This year, the map was not working so I thought I would post a map showing the walking route I took, in case others want to follow this same tour. I think this will generally cover the main displays but be sure to check whether the official map is available before heading out, since this may include outliers who are not on the main streets of Aberdeen Rd, Brant Rd and Charles St.

My journey started at the Victoria Park (Galt) playground where my grandchildren were able to burn off a bit of energy before starting the tour.  This playground is designed for kids aged 5 and under so it is pretty safe for small children. You can park your car near the playground by entering the park from Salisbury Ave. From there, here is the route we took:

• Head east along Salisbury Ave to the corner of the park
• Turn right (south) onto Aberdeen Rd. S.
• Go two blocks and turn left onto Churchill Dr.
• Go left onto Brant Rd.
• Go four blocks along Brant Rd. and then turn left on Blenheim Rd.
• Turn right on Charles St. (it's a dead end but it is usually worth the return trip)
• Cross Blenheim Rd. and continue along Aberdeen Rd. N.
• Walk back across the park (past the Cricket Club and Tennis Courts) to the parking lot

The total distance is just over 2 Km so you might want to take a stroller if you don't want to have to carry small children. To get a good look at each display, plan to cross the street several times along the route.

You might be wondering what this post has to do with tarps? Well, I noticed that many of the Pumkin People displays included tarps. This is a great use for cheap poly tarps since you may need to cut these up as one of the props. Here are a couple of examples wherein tarps were used to represent water.

In closing, I would like to thank the people of West Galt. I know you spend a lot of time and money putting these displays together so you should know your efforts are appreciated.