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Pumpkin Palooza

Posted 12:32 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025

Alt text: a detailed image of Kelly Peter's pumpkin submission with mini pumpkins made to look like a concert crowd.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest Results are IN!

By Shealyn McMahon

The pumpkins were decorated, the votes are tallied, and the results are in! Murphy Library's 3rd Annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest brought plently of fall spirit and friendly competition to the library's entrance during Halloweek.

This year, we had an incredible 655 total votes, nearly 100 more than last year's contest. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to cast a ballot for your favorite pumpkin.

Let's take a look at this year's pumpkins and see who won!

1st Place (209 votes): Smashing Pumpkins by Kelly Peter, Web & Systems Librarian

Alt text: pumpkin singing into microphone, hammers smashing pumpkins, and mini pumpkin concert go-ers.

2nd Place (200 votes): Bubble, Bubble, Toil & Trouble by Nikki Pegarsch, Digital Collections Library Assistant

Alt text: pumpkin with glowing bubbles and three mini ghost witches.

3rd Place (78 votes): Elvis Pumpkin by Shealyn McMahon, Outreach Library Assistant

Alt text: pumpkin with an Elvis-inspired wig, glasses, and shirt collar.

4th Place (68 votes): Wicked Tapas by Teri Holford, Education Liaison Librarian

Alt text: tapas board with Halloween twists of typical tapas recipes and a carved pumpkin with bugs, and a snake coming out of the pumpkin.

5th Place (49 votes): The Creation of Barney & Friends by Sam Steingraeber, Special Collections Library Assistant

Alt text: Three pumpkins painted to look like eggs. Barney and two dinosaur figurines are coming out of the eggs.

6th Place (24 votes): Pumpkin Bot by Scott Pfitzinger, Technology & Public Services Librarian

Alt text: pumpkin covered in aluminum foil and decorated as a robot with a smile, antennas and googly eyes.

7th Place (15 votes): Chocolate Pumpkin II by Sean Hurtubise, Administrative Supervisor

Alt text: pumpkin spray painted brown.

8th Place (12 votes): 5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate by Sarah Bakken, Information Literacy Instruction Librarian

Alt text: five mini pumpkins with faces sitting on a black gate.
Alt text: pumpkin decorating contest set up with eight pumpkins and polling station with a stack of ballots and a jack-o-lantern basket

We cannot wait to see what our staff dreams up for next year’s contest. See you in the patch! 🍂


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