Harvest Festival in my own Back yard (sort of)

When I was in elementary school we had an event called "The Harvest Festival" at the beginning of every fall season.  Kids were encouraged to make creations out of vegetables to then display around the school.  Each class got to parade through the halls and see all the vegetable masterpieces.  To me it was magic. 

I remember loving this festival every year.  Some kids (with the help of their parents) made Cinderella pumpkin coaches with zucchini people or squash rockets and tomato aliens.  I was a bit more independent and refused any help so my offerings were a little more, shall we say, unique. 

I was remembering those times as I went out in what's left of our garden today to check on our pumpkin crop.  Our pumpkins have plumped up nicely this year (maybe that's because I bought the seeds that were supposed to produce "state fair" sized gourds).  They aren't quite state fair material, but they should make excellent jack-o-lanterns in another month or so and that's what they were intended for anyway.

One minor disappointment with my garden this year is that I planted what was supposed to be a lovely, purple heirloom tomato plant.  It grows tomatoes alright, but they aren't what I call purple.  They still taste good, but I was really hoping for purple tomatoes in my salad.  That would have been beautiful!  Oh well, red is good too.