Pumpkinfest clothing
NEW for 2023: Pumpkinfest Clothing Design Contest – learn more and enter your artwork today!
Meet our 2022 Pumpkinfest illustrator
James Tchegus, born and raised in Waterford, is the illustrator of this year’s official 2022 Pumpkinfest t-shirt.
Being a child of the 80s I was always doodling and sketching on car rides when I was little. Pencil sketches are still my favourite medium and are always the starting point for any design I come up with. I’ve tried to maintain my passion and love of art volunteering my time designing for other small businesses, the Lions Club, and Pumpkinfest in years past.
My inspiration for the design is a nod to one of my clearest and most favourite memories of the event. Each year when I was at Ada B. Massecar, we would walk as a classroom down to the gymnasium and methodically pick our pumpkins to carve. Then to kick off the weekend I would get to walk downtown with my family before the fireworks. I’d search through the rows and rows of pumpkins along the sidewalk and up the pumpkin pyramid hoping to show off the artwork. The classic cartoon style of the pumpkin faces is meant to nostalgically throwback to the first year of the event in 1982 when Saturday morning cartoons were so popular.
Pumpkinfest is an event my family looks forward to every year and it’s amazing that the traditions are now being passed down to our little ones. I’m even happier to have the opportunity to contribute in a small way.
James Tchegus