He also baked a mashed rutabaga casserole that gathered a crowd when he pulled it hot from the toaster oven.

The piping hot crockery was a buttery blend of rutabaga, cranberries and maple syrup with crumb topping.

"I better get out of the way," he said, "before I get run over."

Hudson Treadwell, 6, entered the root-crop coloring contest.

He was hesitant to bite a raw slice of the pungent plant.

"I've tried it before," he said, raising a knowing eyebrow.

But he thought the rutabaga cake was pretty delicious.

His sister Gigi, age 3, worked for 20 minutes on an abstract work of rutabaga art in quick strokes of crayon and colored pencil.

"Well, a rutabaga is a very abstract thing," her grandmother Libby said.

Many festival folks thought Keene might garner distinction as the rutabaga capital of the Adirondacks.

"I think it could be, I think Keene could be put on the map for that," said Pam Both, who served up a three-cheese rutabaga herb spread on crusty bread.

"It think Keene could be the capital of anything, as long as there's a good time involved," Keene Supervisor Bill Ferebee said.

There is already a rutabaga capital of the world in Cumberland, Wisc., said Tom Both, chairman of Adirondack Harvest, who dreamed up the harvest celebration.

"He suggested it to the board, and we told him we weren't going to do it," said Laurie Davis, coordinator for Adirondack Harvest.

"The next thing you know, I was printing out posters."