By Ben Cox
Photos/Ben Cox
A little bit of wind and rain couldn’t spoil the plans of the Jacksonville Main Street Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, October 18.
Jacksonville Main Street officials announced on Friday that due to incoming weather from a storm crawling across the plains, they would move this year’s Pumpkin Festival indoors to the Morgan County Fairgrounds pavilion and underneath the grandstand.
Attendees were able to enjoy the cover of the buildings as the rain mostly stayed away from the event. Various vendors, community organizations and animals made the trek to the fairgrounds for the four-hour event.
Event-goers could choose from seven different food trucks set up on the newly paved roadway outside of the pavilion.
The paving project was just recently completed by Moeller Ready Mix after years of having an aggregate driveway through the grounds.
Outside of the food trucks, attendees also could decorate donuts, cookies or get sweet treats from Holly Cakes or Sweet Treats bakeries.
A few brave souls also decided to test their mettle with the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Wings challenge. This author got to see the aftermath of the contest in the men’s restroom, as a young man was rinsing his ‘burning’ tongue off under a faucet. I recommended he find some milk and bread to cut down on the burn.
Since the stormy weather stayed away, many children got to enjoy bubbles and a bubble machine on the grandstand patio. People were able to catch a stray bubble or two as they looked at all the wares of the vendors’ booths throughout the pavilion.
New this year were inflatable costume races. Costume contests also took place, one for pets and one for humans. A petting zoo, pumpkin painting, a bag toss contest, face painting and more seemed to keep any thoughts of an oncoming rainy day out of everyone’s minds.
