Every October, a stretch of New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring turns into something like a small county fairground, minus the ticket booth. Transfiguration Episcopal Church, just north of Randolph Road at 13925 New Hampshire Avenue, holds its Fall Fest outdoors and rain or shine, and admission is free. This year the festival runs on two Saturdays, October 24 and October 31, 2026.
The centerpiece is the pumpkin lot. The parish advertises the biggest selection of pumpkins on New Hampshire Avenue, and the pumpkins are not local at all. They are grown in New Mexico on land belonging to the Navajo Nation, roughly 2,000 miles from the church parking lot.
That is not a marketing flourish. It is the visible end of a supply chain that has connected East Coast church lots to the high desert of northwestern New Mexico. The pumpkins most likely arrive through Pumpkin Patch Fundraisers, a company that grows pumpkins on land owned by the Navajo Agricultural Production Industry before shipping them for sale by hundreds of groups across the country, as part of a tribal program to create agricultural jobs in New Mexico.
For a congregation like Transfiguration, that arrangement is a fundraiser with an unusually long reach. A pumpkin bought on New Hampshire Avenue supports the parish's own ministries and, at the other end of the line, seasonal agricultural jobs on the reservation.
The rest of the festival is built around the lot. There is a bonfire, live music, and food trucks, and craft vendors set up on weekends. The parish's own schedule lists the vendors by date. On October 24, Miss B's Crafty Corner sells "all sorts of bling," Positive Vibes serves Jamaican food, and the Painted, Pasted and Photographed artist collective offers photos, paintings and art. On October 25, Laila's Arts & Crafts brings handmade jewelry and Christmas ornaments, DM Slider handles food, and VGM Jams performs video game music. On October 31, Positive Vibes, the artist collective and Laila's Arts & Crafts return.
The contests are the other draw. Scarecrow building is scheduled for 2 p.m. on October 17, with judging at 4 p.m.; the parish supplies sticks and straw free of charge, and its thrift shop opens at 10 a.m. that day. A bake sale runs alongside. On October 24, carved pumpkins go before the judges at 4 p.m. The thrift shop is a 501(c)(3) of the parish that sells donated clothing and household goods at low cost, with some shoppers sending items to their homelands to help people in need; proceeds support the church's outreach programs.
Transfiguration is an Episcopal parish whose motto is "Uniting Diverse People. Serving One God." Its congregation draws members from many racial, cultural and national backgrounds, including the Caribbean and Africa, and the parish hosts several other Christian congregations in its buildings during the week. It is also a founding member of C4 and has sponsored a Scout troop for more than 50 years that has produced more than 160 Eagle Scouts. The Rev. Noreen Dubay is the parish's priest.
None of that requires a ticket. The festival is free, entirely outdoors, and open to anyone who wants to pick through a pile of New Mexico pumpkins, watch a scarecrow take shape, or stand by a bonfire on a cool October evening.