After Keene officials rejected the license for the city’s annual Pumpkin Festival earlier this month, there’s been no shortage of other Granite State communities vying to host the event. Laconia, Exeter, Franklin and Portsmouth are among those said to be interested. In Claremont, a citizens group has been meeting regularly to come up with a formal proposal.That group is set to bring it's proposal before the Claremont City Council tonight.

Michael Charest heads up the Claremont Citizens Group. Here are a few questions he answered from his interview with Morning Edition:

So for you, what makes Claremont the ideal home for this event, over say the other cities that are said to be interested?

"Claremont is located 28 miles north of Keene and we’re in southwestern New Hampshire. What we’re looking to do is continue the tradition of an iconic event, that being the Keene Pumpkin Festival. Since their city council decided to forego that any further, it only makes logistical and geographic sense to just move it up the road 28 miles."

Do you see this as recreating the Keene Pumpkin Festival in Claremont, or coming up with a new event with its own identity?

"We’re actually looking to go off the coattails of Let It Shine and their pumpkin festival. We’re looking very seriously at maybe changing the name slightly and we’re also going to bring in some different events."

What’s going to be your pitch to city councilors at tomorrow night’s meeting?

"Anything we can do to bring a large crowd of individuals into Claremont is a good thing. It gives Claremont exposure. It gives business owners and individuals who are bringing their families to a family event an opportunity to see the infrastructure; to see the beauty and to see the location of Claremont."

For more information & the entire interview visit: http://nhpr.org/