By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
After being forced to go virtual last year in the midst of the COVID pandemic, Pumpkinfest will return to in person this year in St. Joseph.
Cindy Daffron Executive Director of the Pony Express Museum says the reaction to being virtual last year was fairly positive, with donors still helping with the virtual pumpkin mountain.
Daffron adds they were also able to do a virtual pumpkin carving, as well as the annual costume contest, which was exciting because of the outstanding reach they found online.
"We had everywhere from Florida, to Texas, to somewhere around Grandview in Kansas City, and it was just exciting we had some local people," Daffron tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "You know, but just how exciting and how far the reach went for people wanting to participate in something we thought kind of more regional, Heartland area, not out of state by any means."
Daffron says that with this year being the 25th year of the festival there are some special things planned, like a proclamation from the mayor to honor the festival.
But Daffron says that is not all they have planned.
"I also reached out to the fire department, and I'll just be frank, I said is there anyways we can acknowledge and thank all of just not the EMS and the hospital workers, but you know, all those people who went to restaurants, all those people who worked behind the scenes and made Buchanan County a great place to work, the people who came to Buchanan County to work," Daffron explains. "So I've asked them to hoist the flat at 7:45 on Friday night."
Daffron adds the flag will be hoisted also as a sign of respect for those lost during the pandemic, as well as Max the K-9, and all those around the St. Joseph community.
One of the most notable items at every Pumpkinfest is the lit up pumpkin mountain, which was a highlight of the virtual event last year.
Daffron says one of the biggest things about the pumpkin mountain, is that all the carvings done surrounding the sponsor logos, are done by the schools from around the community.
"So there's probably roughly six to eight hundred of those pumpkins that are going to be on there that belong to children, and to us that's what is exciting, because children is our future," Daffron says. "That is where we hope someday they'll be the ones coming and carving and doing the real thing, or helping somebody else put on a festival in the city where they live."
Bode and Riverside schools both took around 200 pumpkins to put towards the pumpkin mountain.
The festival begins at 5pm on Friday with a flag hoisting at 7:45pm. You can find more information about Pumpkinfest HERE.