On Saturday, October 17, Putnam hosts two of its biggest fall events on the same morning. The Great Pumpkin Festival fills lower Main Street from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and runners in Tackle the Trail finish on the Putnam River Trail at the Hale YMCA. Look at who runs them and a pattern shows up for the whole month. The festival is listed through the Town's Parks & Recreation department. The race belongs to a local scholarship foundation. The Scarecrow Contest belongs to the Putnam Business Association. The month's two big shows play at the Bradley Playhouse on Front Street. Putnam's October is homemade, and October 17 is the day the most of it happens at once.
Who puts on the Great Pumpkin Festival
Putnam Parks & Recreation keeps the 2026 festival listing and runs vendor applications through the Town's RecDesk portal. The Putnam Business Association and Discover Putnam also list the event. None of the sources names a separate outside producer. The Town's vendor information puts the festival on lower Main Street and the Main Street and Union Square parking lot area. Vendors check in at Bear Hands Brewing, 75 Main Street, and get their exact spots closer to the day.
This year's promotion lists the Official Great Pumpkin, craft and art vendors, live music, children's activities and pumpkin-themed food. Creamery Brook Bison plans to bring its food truck with bison burgers, hot dogs, chili and shakes. Last year, CT Examiner reported the giant pumpkin on display on the Putnam Congregational Church lawn for the October 19, 2025 festival. No 2026 location has been announced. The 2026 promotion also doesn't mention a weigh-off or a weigh-in time.
One date needs clearing up. An older Discover Putnam festival page still shows "Saturday, October 23," 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with no year. That page is from an earlier year. October 23, 2026 is a Friday. The Putnam Business Association calendar and the Discover Putnam events calendar both list the 2026 festival for Saturday, October 17.
The race that ends at the YMCA
The Northeast Connecticut Education Foundation organizes Tackle the Trail, and the race supports local students going on to higher education. The 2026 race offers a marathon, a half marathon, a 10K and a marathon relay for teams of up to five.
According to the Tackle the Trail course page, the marathon and relay start at Route 203 in Windham and follow the Airline Trail through Windham, Hampton and Pomfret. Runners leave the Airline Trail by the Henry Breault pedestrian bridge and finish on Putnam's River Trail at the Hale YMCA. The Town describes the River Trail as running along the eastern shore of the Quinebaug River, with an extension south toward the Hale YMCA. That extension is the stretch where the race finishes.
Race morning starts early at the YMCA:
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7:00 a.m. | Bus leaves the Hale YMCA for the marathon and relay start |
| 7:30 a.m. | Bus leaves the Hale YMCA for the half marathon start |
| 8:00 a.m. | Marathon and relay start |
| 8:15 a.m. | Bus leaves the Hale YMCA for the 10K start |
| 8:30 a.m. | Half marathon starts |
| 9:00 a.m. | 10K starts |
| 10:00 a.m. | Great Pumpkin Festival opens downtown |
| 3:00 p.m. | Festival closes |
The half marathon is 13.1 miles and the 10K is 6.2 miles. The marathon legs add up to the full 26.2. The race website warns that parking is limited at the start lines and relay stations, which is why it runs buses from the YMCA. Registration is open through RunSignup. Spots and prices change as race day gets closer, so check the live page before you count on a slot.
What October 17 means for getting around downtown
Put the two events together and the morning has a clear order. Runners are on the course from 8 a.m. The festival opens on Main Street at 10. The late part of the morning is when race finishers and festival visitors are in town at the same time.
As of today, there's no published spectator parking map, road-closure notice or festival shuttle. The only parking instructions come from the Town's vendor information. Vendors unload at their assigned spaces and then move their vehicles to the municipal lot by Kennedy Drive, Pomfret Street and Canal Street. If you usually park in that lot on a Saturday, it will likely fill earlier than normal on the 17th. The Town's Parks & Recreation page is the first place to check if closures are announced.
The rest of the month, in order
The Great Pumpkin Festival is the biggest day, but it sits in a full calendar. Almost every item on it comes from a Putnam organization.
- October 9 to 25: The Bradley Playhouse stages Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, directed by William Corriveau and Kathleen Atwood.
- October 12: Registration deadline for the Putnam Business Association's Scarecrow Contest, which is in its 17th year according to the official rules.
- October 15, noon: Scarecrows must be set up and ready for judging. Both individuals and businesses enter, and the scarecrows go up along downtown streets.
- October 17: Great Pumpkin Festival and Tackle the Trail.
- October 23, 7 p.m.: The Zombie Fashion Show at Rotary Park, with a rain date of October 30.
- October 24, 2 to 3:30 p.m.: Downtown Trick or Treat.
- October 30 and 31: The Complex Performing and Creative Arts Centre performs The Rocky Horror Show at the Bradley. Shows are at 7 p.m. on the 30th, and at 7 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on the 31st.
- October 31, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: The last Putnam Saturday Farmers Market of the season, at the Riverview Marketplace Pavilion, 18 Kennedy Drive, beside the Quinebaug River Trail.
Timing matters here. The scarecrows are judged two days before the festival, so they'll already be up along downtown streets for the festival crowd on the 17th. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. That makes October 31 both the farmers market's closing morning and the night of the Bradley's 11:59 p.m. Rocky Horror show.
What has changed downtown since last October
You'll notice a few changes if you walk downtown this month.
The Scoop Social opened by mid-April at 147 Kennedy Drive in the spot where Riverview Ice Cream used to be. It serves ice cream and runs a seasonal mini-golf course. The venue's own page still lists the Kennedy Drive address and posts current hours. It's a short walk from the farmers market pavilion at 18 Kennedy Drive.
The former Providence and Worcester train station at 45 Main Street is quiet this fall. As Patch reported in January, The Crossings Restaurant & Brew Pub closed after the landlord took the building back. The brew pub had been in Putnam since 2013, and the company was dissolved effective January 2, 2026. We haven't found any new tenant or reuse plan announced for the building since then.
A new restaurant is planned a block away. In July, The Connecticut Scoop reported that Juliet Ristorante & Mercato will open at 26–28 Union Street, the former Chickering Tavern space. Union Street Hospitality will own it, and the restaurant shares its owners with William Mason House and Anya in Thompson. The projected opening is 2027. For this October, the Union Street area is a festival venue, since the Town's vendor layout uses the Main Street and Union Square lot.
After the pumpkins come down
The same Town office that lists the festival also publishes the holiday schedule. Santa Lights Up Putnam is on November 27, the day after Thanksgiving. Santa Saturday and Small Business Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., are both on November 28. The Holiday Dazzle Light Parade is Sunday, November 29. The farmers market closes on October 31, and the downtown holiday events begin four weeks later.
Kristen lives in Woodstock, just up the road, and follows Putnam's calendar as a neighbor. If you're hosting family during festival weekend, or wondering which of Putnam's downtown blocks see the most activity through the year, Kristen Kaskela is glad to talk it through over coffee on Main Street. Let's Connect.
