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Contest featured carved pumpkins, spooky drawings

Provided to the Tribune
Provided to the Tahoe Daily Tribune. Wayne Hunton shows off Hannibal the Cannibal, his pumpkin that won first place in the Windermere Distinctive Homes pumpkin carving contest.
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From ghosts to goblins and witches and ghosts, all were present at the annual Windermere Distinctive Homes Great Pumpkin and Drawing Contest. The event featured creatively carved pumpkins and children’s Halloween drawings from various age groups.

“Halloween is such a fun time of year that we like to celebrate with each other and our clients,” said broker Jean Merkelbach. “It’s something that our client’s children look forward to each year as well as the Windermere sales associates who get to express their creative skills in pumpkin carving.”

From ages 3 to 11, children entered the contest and had their drawings displayed in the front window of Windermere Distinctive Homes in the Round Hill Square shopping center. The winners in the birth to 5 age group included Jonathan Sloan, 4, for a colorful multiple pumpkin scene, and Stephanie Smittkamp for featuring carefully cut out pumpkins on a construction paper fence. The winners of the 6 to 11 age groups included Garrett Bronker, 11, for his dead tree and tombstone scene, and Hannah Hawkins, 9, for her barn with solo pumpkin.



As for the Windermere sales associates and their pumpkins, it was a tough race. From Gayle Boren’s sophisticated floral arrangement pumpkin with webs and furry spiders, to Chris Hernandez and Brook Norman’s M&M pumpkins with shoes, legs and hat accessories, the big winner turned out to be “Hannibal the Cannibal” by Wayne Hunton, which featured a large pumpkin eating a smaller version of itself.

“I wanted a scary pumpkin and so I thought pumpkins eating other pumpkins would be pretty good,” Hunton said. “The little pumpkins didn’t stand a chance with my big Hannibal lurking around.”



“We plan to keep this tradition going and look forward to it again next year,” Merkelbach said. “We welcome more children in the community to participate in the drawing contest next Halloween and express their artistic talents in our window.”


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