It wasn’t exactly the duel of the century, but the mayor of Keene, N.H., and the executive director of the Better Bennington Corp., met on the front lawn of Bennington Town Offices to verbally spar over pumpkins.

They announced The Great Pumpkin Challenge, says The Bennington Banner, a competition between the two towns to see which one can turn out the most carved, lit pumpkins. Bob Stannard, the BBC’s director, said he felt this “was a wonderful opportunity for two cities to come together over squash.” Keene apparently has been challenged before, but still holds the record of 28,952 pumpkins. The alert status has been raised to orange.