Halloween at the Sutton Museum

150 happy children and a small museum - Halloween's Pumpkin Art in Sutton

By Manfried H. Starhemberg
When Richard Leclerc took over as administrator of Sutton's museum he probably thought that this would be a job of ease and relaxation. This, after all, is a small town and there are no Dinosaurs rising up in the middle of the night to wreak havoc. However, since he has been there, the museum has become a lively and interesting place, exhibitions change, interactive events have been created and the last in this series of changes was evident on Thursday morning when 150 school children invaded the museum to take part in this year's Pumpkin judging contest.
More than 70 beautifully crafted pumpkins are presently on display and shall stay until the final judging is over on Sunday. Kids under 18 can write in their favorites and adults are asked to make a $ 5.- donation to the museum when casting their ballots. There are prizes galore to be won, the biggest one being a Montreal Canadian's sweater autographed by Emile "Butch" Bouchard.

 This event is being sponsored by a number of local merchants which have founded an initiative "Buy Local Sutton". I.G.A. has donated the pumpkins, the Sutton mountain group has given money, so has the local cheese shop "Rumeur Affame", the pharmacy of M. Milot, Lynda Graham's "Vert le Mont" B&B. the "Chocolaterie Belge", the local fashion shop "Rendezvous de la Monde" and others.

"Three more days of this" for museum director Richard Leclerc who seemed to revel in entertaining his young charges.