When Punkinfiddle started out in 2003, we sponsored an art competition to find a logo that would tie pumpkins and fiddles together in a festive way. We had several worthy entries, but the standout was from Joseph Havens, a skilled graphic designer living in Kennebunk. Joe evoked our anticipated feel for the event before we had even nailed down the day's details!

Our friends at Dietz Associates digitized the art and featured it on our first poster. The logo jumped off the page, attracting lots of attention and helping to make our event wildly successful.

More Punkinfiddle poster background after the art…

The first Punkinfiddle was so great we decided to do it again. Among the volunteers to step forward to help in 2004 was Piper Castles, who offered to come up with an original piece of art to feature on the poster. Her painting was inspired by the weathervane perched atop the Maine Coastal Ecology Center—come see for yourself next time you're here.

Piper returned in 2005 and did a painting of Canada geese flying over the Laudholm campus. Just lovely. She followed it up with another eye-catching piece in 2006, the year we shifted Punkinfiddle to September so it would correspond with National Estuaries Day. It was a challenge, but Piper managed to marry pumpkins to the estuary very gracefully.

Motherhood superseded Punkinfiddle for Piper, but our research associate Jim Dochtermann was more than happy to share his salt marsh scene for the 2007, 2008, and 2009 fliers, firming up the event's estuary connections. In 2010 and 2011, we again put the Havens logo front and center, placing it over a Jeff Stevensen photograph of a tranquil tidal river.

The 2012 Punkinfiddle will be our 10th (time flies!) and we're planning to present another memorable art poster to help celebrate in style. Watch for it this summer.