Houston Pumpkin Festival, scheduled for October, called off
The Houston Pumpkin Festival, the annual fundraiser for the Houston Volunteer Fire Department, has been canceled for this year.
The festival had been scheduled for Oct. 9-11. Festival organizers could not be reached for comment, but many events scheduled for the fall have been postponed or canceled in recent weeks as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
According to a post on Facebook credited to the festival’s organizing committee, “We waited as long as possible with hopes the situation may change, however, during these unprecedented times we feel it is the best decision. The health and safety of our community, vendors, and volunteers is most important to us.”
It continued, “The festival is the primary annual fundraiser for the department, making this decision a difficult one.”
In the post, the committee vowed that the festival would return in 2021.
Typically drawing about 100,000 visitors over a three-day span to the American Legion Fairgrounds in Houston, the pumpkin festival has up to 180 food and craft vendors every year, wagon rides, music and has contests built around eating pumpkin pie and spitting pumpkin seeds.
The festival has been a Houston mainstay for three decades. It had been operated by the borough until the fire department took it over in 1996. The festival helps cover about 75% of the department’s annual budget.