<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1601576684385.jpeg" alt="Crowds gathered at last year's Pumpkinfest/Photo by Brent Martin" />
 <figcaption>Crowds gathered at last year's Pumpkinfest/Photo by Brent Martin</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostPumpkinfest has gone virtual this year with the hope of
inviting everyone back next year for the fall festival’s 25th
anniversary.Pony Express Museum Executive Director Cindy Daffron says the
steering committee held off on a decision as long as possible, then relented
and canceled the celebration. Instead, it will go virtual featuring a virtual costume photo
contest.“We thought, you know, give something back to the kids. We feel
like we’re dedicated to family and to children,” Daffron tells host Barry Birr
on the KFEQ Hotline. “So, we said the Pony Express is going to ride on, no
matter what.”A carving contest is also being held.Organizers decided that if they couldn’t hold the festival at
the Pony Express Museum and allow people to view the Pumpkin Mountain, they
would provide a “behind the scenes” video on how Pumpkinfest got started and
how all those pumpkins get carved and put on display.A lot of suggestions were rejected.“We even said, let’s just build a mountain and let the people
look at it and then they’re like, oh no, then we’ll have a traffic jam in the
city and we thought how can we even make it a drive by,” according to Daffron. “There’s
no good way on those streets down there to make it be a drive by like you could
drive through the park or something.”Pumpkinfest 2020 is using the <a href="https://www.kq2.com/content/contests/572319951.html#/rounds/1/gallery">KQ2.com – Contest Page</a> to upload
photos by ages. The contest runs through October 6th. Winners will
be announced on the 9th.For the pumpkin carving contest, use <a href="https://www.newspressnow.com/contests/">NewPressNOW.com/contests</a>
to submit a photo of your carved pumpkin. That contest runs from October 9th
through the 25th.Daffron says the virtual presentation this year should provide
a bridge to a milestone next year.“It’s 25 years of an event that, you know, when they first started
it, did they think it would last 25 years? They weren’t sure.”And Daffron adds this pandemic will pass, some day.“But just remember, there’s a time coming when we’re going to all
get to enjoy something together again and that’s what we’re hoping for.”

Pumpkinfest to celebrate virtually this year