Where was Hallmark’s Pumpkin Regatta Romance filmed?

People hollow out giant pumpkins, climb inside, and paddle them across a lake. That is a real thing. And Hallmark had the genius to build a whole romance around it.

Pumpkin Regatta Romance is part of Hallmark Channel’s Fall Into Love 2026 lineup, premiering Saturday, September 26, 2026 at 8/7c. It stars Mishael Morgan and Corey Sevier as two people caught in the middle of a decades-old family feud, and falling for each other while trying to save their town’s beloved Pumpkin Regatta.

The pumpkin boats are real. The chemistry is real. And the filming location? Here is everything you need to know about where Pumpkin Regatta Romance was filmed, who filmed it, and why it looks the way it does.

Pumpkin Regatta Romance Filming Locations

Pumpkin Regatta Romance was filmed in Ontario, Canada in May 2026. The production, made under the working title Love at the Pumpkin Regatta, was handled by Vortex Media and directed by Liz Farrer.

Ontario, Canada

Ontario was chosen specifically because the story required a genuine lakeside waterfront town – a working marina, open water for the regatta sequences, and the kind of small-town autumn atmosphere that British Columbia’s Lower Mainland cannot easily replicate.

Mishael Morgan and Corey Sevier were photographed on location by local residents during the shoot. Morgan herself announced the project on Instagram on May 22, 2026, posting a fit-check from her trailer with the caption: “New character loading… Say hi to Nadine!”

The province’s lake country, generous production incentives, and deep connection to the Toronto talent pool made it the natural home for this film.

Ontario is Canada’s most populated province and its film industry has grown significantly in recent years. The province offers production incentives that attract Hallmark, Lifetime, and major studio productions alike.

Northern Ontario in particular has earned a reputation as a filming hotspot thanks to its charming lakeside towns, diverse landscapes, and generous tax incentives.

The province doubles for small-town America constantly on screen, and in the case of Pumpkin Regatta Romance, it simply played itself: a beautiful lakeside community built for autumn.

Also read: Where was Hallmark’s Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage filmed?

Ontario’s Waterfront and Marina Settings

The story demands water. Nadine’s father owns the town boat shop. Ethan grows pumpkins on the edge of town. The climax of the film centers on a race held entirely on the water.

Ontario’s lake country provided exactly the right visual language for all of it.

The production filmed at an actual marina, which also helped the cast prepare for the pumpkin boat sequences. Morgan admitted in a pre-premiere interview that she needed serious coaching.

“We were luckily on a marina with a lot of boaters that were able to kind of give us some pointers, because in the beginning I kind of just was going in circles,” she said.

That is not a joke – it is physics. A giant hollowed-out pumpkin is round. Keeping it moving in a straight line takes real effort.

Sevier confirmed the production team spent considerable time engineering the pumpkins to be actor-safe. “They were like, ‘Let’s keep the actors dry,'” he explained.

The pumpkins were stabilized so they would not tip, and the production made sure neither lead ended up in the water mid-take. Multiple cameras captured the regatta sequences, which means the spontaneous moments you see on screen, including things that went slightly wrong, were deliberately kept in the final cut.

Port Perry, Ontario

The specific town for Pumpkin Regatta Romance has not been officially confirmed by Hallmark or Vortex Media. However, Port Perry, Ontario, is one of the most used waterfront Hallmark filming locations in the province — and its geography fits the film perfectly.

Port Perry sits on Lake Scugog, about a 1.5-hour drive from Toronto. It has earned a strong reputation as a go-to for Hallmark productions precisely because it has a working waterfront, a historic downtown, and the feel of a small lakeside town that reads as American on screen.

The town’s Kinsmen Beach, the lakefront marina, and its heritage-era main street have all appeared in prior productions. A film centered on a marina and a pumpkin boat race on open water would be a natural fit for Port Perry’s existing infrastructure.

Also read: Where was Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Buried at C filmed?

Almonte, Ontario

Almonte is Ontario’s other major Hallmark production hub, so well-known for the genre that locals call it “mini Hollywood North.”

It is about 40 minutes from Ottawa and has been used in more Hallmark productions than almost any other small town in the province. While Pumpkin Regatta Romance is a fall film rather than a Christmas movie, Almonte has demonstrated that Ontario towns can pull off any Hallmark season convincingly.

The Almonte Old Town Hall, dating to 1885, has appeared in multiple productions. Its position next to the Mississippi River (the Canadian one) creates the kind of picturesque scene that Hallmark’s camera operators dream about.

Ontario vs. British Columbia

Hallmark films most frequently in British Columbia, specifically in and around Vancouver, Burnaby, Langley, and Pitt Meadows. The infrastructure there is deep, the crews are experienced, and the city doubles easily for American locations.

But Pumpkin Regatta Romance chose Ontario, and there is a clear reason.

British Columbia’s Lower Mainland is beautiful, but its landscape skews towards mountains and forests. Ontario lake country, particularly in the Durham Region and the areas around Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, has a very specific small-town waterfront look that British Columbia struggles to replicate.

The story required that waterfront authenticity. A real marina. Open lake water. A town where pumpkin farming and boat culture could believably coexist. Ontario’s cottage country delivers that in a way no other Canadian province quite can.

Both Mishael Morgan and Corey Sevier are from Toronto, which made Ontario a natural base for this production. Sevier noted that he and Morgan had a lot in common, including both being Torontonians which helped them build chemistry quickly on set.

Also read: Where was Love Finds You filmed? Hallmark 2026 Location Guide

Is a Pumpkin Regatta a real thing?

Yes. it’s 100% real.

Neither Mishael Morgan nor Corey Sevier knew this when they signed on. “It’s a real thing. And I didn’t know coming into this that it was a real thing,” Sevier confirmed.

The most famous pumpkin regatta in North America was held annually in Windsor, Nova Scotia, on Lake Pesaquid. Founded in 1999 by Danny Dill, the race featured competitors paddling giant Atlantic Giant pumpkins, some weighing over 1,000 pounds across the water. The event drew up to 10,000 spectators and ran until 2019, when it was suspended due to environmental changes to the lake’s water levels.

Other pumpkin regattas have been held in Goffstown, New Hampshire; Taunton, Massachusetts; Burlington, Vermont; and even locations in the United Kingdom and Germany.

The film captures the spirit of these real events. It is the kind of only-in-fall community tradition that Hallmark is built to celebrate.

Cast of Pumpkin Regatta Romance

Mishael Morgan

Morgan originally planned to be a lawyer. After an accident that left her with a broken neck, she pivoted to acting. That pivot led to a historic career: in 2022, she became the first Black actress to win the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Amanda Sinclair on The Young and the Restless.

Her other credits include Supernatural, Chicago Med, and Christmas with a Kiss. She previously appeared in Hallmark’s Hearts Around the Table: Shari’s Second Act.

She launched her own production company after leaving The Young and the Restless and has been intentional about the kinds of stories she wants to tell. “I’m just big about telling stories that really remind people that we’re more alike than we are different,” she has said.

Corey Sevier

Sevier has been acting since age seven, when he played Timmy in the 1990s revival of Lassie. He has recurring credits in Hallmark’s Cedar Cove and ABC’s Mistresses, along with a filmography that spans Northern Lights of Christmas, Road Trip Romance, The Christmas Charade, and Heart of the Holidays, which he also directed.

He is increasingly a filmmaker as well as an actor. He and his wife, screenwriter Kate Pragnell, who wrote Pumpkin Regatta Romance are in active development on multiple projects together. For this film, he read the script cold. “She’s like, ‘It’s not ready yet,'” he recalled of asking for an early look. He only learned the premise in advance, and even that he had to be shown YouTube videos to believe.

Behind the Scenes: What Happened on Set?

The Pumpkin Boats Took Serious Engineering

Getting giant pumpkins water-safe enough to put actors inside them was its own pre-production challenge. “That was a whole conversation, just figuring out how to make it safe, how to make it so it wouldn’t tip,” Morgan explained. The production team stabilized the pumpkins from below, and both leads stayed dry throughout filming.

The Director Kept It Loose

Director Liz Farrer gave the cast significant creative freedom, and it shows. Sevier noted that spontaneous moments that went slightly sideways during the pumpkin sequences — the genuine struggles to steer a round object across water — were kept in the final film. “A lot of what really went well and what didn’t go well stayed in the film,” he said.

The Chemistry Was Instant

Morgan and Sevier had never met before production began. Their connection came quickly, built on shared backgrounds — both are Torontonians, both are parents, and both, it turned out, are Cancers. Morgan has said she takes zodiac compatibility seriously. “She was like, ‘Are you a Cancer? Okay, this will be all right,'” Sevier recalled with a laugh.

Kate Pragnell Wrote the Script (And Is Married to the Lead)

Sevier’s wife wrote the screenplay. That is not how things usually work for him. He typically directs his Hallmark projects and is involved from the earliest development stages. This time, he had no involvement in the writing or early production. He was purely an actor for hire — one who happened to be married to the writer. He called the experience “new for me just to be actor.”

The Father-Daughter Scenes Have a Real Emotional Layer

Morgan has spoken openly about working with Eugene Clark, who plays her on-screen father George Brooks. Clark reminded her strongly of her own father, who passed away in 2019. “Kind of being able to just bond with an older man that really kind of has these little quirks that reminded me of my dad, it just made it so much fun and almost a little bit healing, in a weird way,” she said. Those scenes carry extra weight for anyone watching with that knowledge.

By Take 18, the Cake Pops Were Getting Old

There is a key scene involving cake pops. By the eighteenth take, the sugar was becoming a lot. “Now, by take 18 it was a little bit of a sugar rush,” Sevier confirmed. Morgan, who had gluten-free versions made for her, maintained they were excellent. Both agreed they tasted as good as they looked — at least for the first several takes.

Where to watch Pumpkin Regatta Romance?

The film is rated TV-G and runs approximately 90 minutes. It is part of the Fall Into Love 2026 block, which continues through October 10 with The Spirit of Halloween.

Reviews

Pumpkin Regatta Romance premiered on September 26, 2026, so formal critical reviews are still emerging. Pre-premiere reception has been warm across entertainment communities.

Several outlets highlighted the film as one of the more distinctive entries in the Fall Into Love 2026 lineup, specifically because of its unusual central premise. Girls Gone Hallmark called it “the most delightfully specific premise of the season.” The site noted the pairing of Morgan, Sevier, and Jake Epstein as an “unusual combination for a Hallmark fall movie” — a cast pulling from three very different corners of television, which gives the film a less predictable dynamic than a typical genre entry.

Pre-premiere buzz centered heavily on the pumpkin boat sequences. Clips showing the leads actually paddling in giant gourds generated significant social media engagement, partly because it confirmed the production did not cut corners on the regatta sequences. They are real people in real (engineered) pumpkins on real water.

The father-daughter dynamic between Morgan and Clark has also drawn early attention from fans following the actors’ pre-premiere interviews, particularly after Morgan’s comments about how the scenes connected to the loss of her own father.

General viewer response reflects the pattern common to Hallmark’s stronger fall entries: cozy, warm, and anchored by leads with genuine chemistry rather than manufactured spark.

Pumpkin Regatta Romance premieres September 26, 2026 at 8/7c on Hallmark Channel. It streams the next day on Hallmark+. For fans who have already watched, Corey Sevier returns in A Danish Christmas on November 1, and Mishael Morgan stars in Hearts All Aglow on December 18.

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Paul Fogarty

Paul is an entertainment news writer and the newest family member of Castalkie who joined in October 2022. His interest is in covering the filming locations of movies and TV shows.

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