PLAINVILLE — Summer is waning, and preparations are underway for the seventh annual Plainville Pumpkin Festival. The festival will take place in downtown Oct. 22 from 4 to 8 p.m., with a costume parade for children beginning at 5. The event will be held rain or shine.
The outdoor festival will also feature live music, kids games, bounce houses, food trucks, a haunted house and over 40 local vendors, according to the festival website. All are invited to bring a carved pumpkin or decorate one in the festival’s Pumpkin Patch.
Pumpkin Festival Chairperson Kris Dargenio remembers the pumpkin festival that she and her friends went to back in 2012 that sparked the idea.
“The idea started when a group of my friends and I went to the pumpkin festival up in Keene, New Hampshire,” Dargenio said.
The two-day festival takes place each year in New Hampshire's Lakes Region.
Dargenio recalls telling her friends that a pumpkin festival would be great to have in their town and the planning began.
She pitched the idea to the Town Council and Police Department.
“They thought it was an awesome idea,” she said.
Soon, a festival committee was formed and planning began for the inaugural event, which was held in 2015. To this day, Dargenio remains the festival co-chairperson.
A few days before the festival, volunteers will begin carving hundreds of pumpkins to display in front of Town Hall.
The Plainville band Audacity, a rock and country cover band, will be returning for this year’s entertainment.
Admission is free for everyone.
East Main Street will be closed from the Valero across to the Fire Department during the event, while Whiting Street will be closed from East Main to Maple Street.
The festival raises money for the Plainville Community Fund through the Main Street Community Foundation.
Sponsors include Mizzy Construction, Tilcon and Manafort Brothers.
Since 2015, the festival has donated more than $42,000 to the Plainville Community Fund.
The fund was established in 2006 by a group of community leaders to provide funding for charitable projects and programs to enhance the quality of life for Plainville citizens.
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