By Taylor Stevens

West Jordan - Families from across the county came out in their Halloween best, young children in tow, to celebrate both Halloween and the end of the fall season at the Salt Lake County Library’s third annual Pumpkinpalooza event on Oct. 31, held at the West Jordan Viridian Event Center.

As the name of the event implied, the free celebration centered on all things pumpkin. There was a pumpkin decorating competition, a pumpkin pie eating contest, pumpkin arts and crafts and pumpkin smashing, as well as a costume contest and Trick-or-Treating booths. The event also featured activity booths from West Jordan businesses and other surrounding cities.

Tyler Curtis, event center manager at the West Jordan Library, said that the event brought in 1200–1300 attendees from across the county—filling a community space the Viridian Event Center was created to satisfy.

Part of the culture the Salt Lake County Library system wants to create is one of free community fun, Curtis said.

“The library system is all about free,” he said. “We like free, and the event center was built to host events that help bring the community together and provide a number of resources. This is one more thing that helps bring the community together and have a lot of fun.” 

The highlight of the event for many was the pumpkin-smashing portion of the day, when attendees watched pumpkins splat to the ground in awe. 

“We built a trebuchet and we popped pumpkins, and the fire department dropped pumpkins from their big ladder truck,” Curtis said. “I like the pumpkin smash.” 

Although Curtis said the event was a success, the Salt Lake County Library system is already beginning to plan for next year’s event. 

“It’s important that you tell everybody that they need to come out next year,” Curtis said. “They missed out on a lot of fun events.”