There's no mistaking the first signs of fall. You notice it in the way the air smells—like dry leaves, bonfire smoke, and maybe even the faintest hint of pumpkin spice drifting from the grocery store ...

A Pumpkin Regatta racer paddles a giant pumpkin through the water in Kasterlee, Belgium, on Oct. 22, 2023. Participants cover a distance of 100 meters in hollowed-out pumpkins in the annual event.

Pumpkins are the bookends of autumn. Headlines about the arrival of pumpkin spice lattes signal summer's end. And soon after the last bites of pumpkin pie at the Thanksgiving table, we turn to plans ...