Pumpkin Hunter.

 Unless you have connections, it's nigh impossible to find a cheap pumpkin in this country. Florists are usually your best bet, yet 2500yen was the still cheapest I found today. More elaborate Halloweeny displays were also for sale.

My quest continued to a nicely timed Farmers Market, the annual Miyagi Marogoto Festival.

Free samples and lots of produce produce a festive mood. There was a weird yellow creature on stage with two recently crowned Farm Queens.

I filled out a little quiz (not really comprehending the questions nor answers, I got them all wrong) and won a sheet of stickers.

Hey, they appear to be my new friend, Emi-chan!

I bought plenty of fresh veggies and discovered some mini-pancake/quiche concoctions for brunch.

 I never expected to see a malamute in attendance.

My first sign of something Halloween-related was across the street at Kotodai Koen. I'm not sure what they were shilling but I dropped a buck in a bucket and was allowed to scoop as many round wooden balls as I could manage. I have no idea what to do with them now.

Lots of milk-related products were for sale and there was a huge tent with a couple of kawaii cows within.

This is an actual cow. Alas I was too early for milking it.

Kids were allowed to jump up and down within this giant cow.

These Dairy Queens handed out prizes to the children in attendance who won by answering quiz questions (I noticed that the answers were provided to the lucky "winners".)

Across the road yet again to City Hall were plenty more booths, mostly selling meat and fruit. I picked up a cat's paw and a cuke.

I also met a bull and his priestly pooch pal.

Inside the hall was a large display of Ikebana, flowers, crafts, Kokeshi, Kimono and lots more. Interesting but still NO pumpkins!

Perhaps my favourite character of the day was this Kakashi (scarecrow) with the Hemohemoheji face.
he (へ), no (の), he (へ), no (の), mo (も), he (へ), and ji (じ)

I was about to give up on a my pumpkin pursuit when I espied a grocer beneath the Don Quixote near my parking space. Sure enough, some nice round pumpkins for sale.

And they were only 3000 yen a pop!!!