The Seymour Pumpkin Festival is expected to attract thousands of people Sunday, Sept. 18, to French Memorial Park.
Craft booths will include handmade jewelry, silk and dried flower arrangements, soft sculpture, quilts, paintings, blown glass, woodcrafts, Christmas ornaments, ceramic items, hand painted slate and other goods, according to the non-profit organization’s Facebook page.
It is the 46th year of the festival. It is a juried craft event.
“I think it’s a significant event for our town,” said First Selectman Paul Roy, who plans to help open the festival at 10 a.m. It runs until 5 p.m.
He will walk around the park, checking out all the craft booth vendors and the people.
“I’ll make sure everybody’s having a good time,” Roy said.
There will be entertainment including a performance by the band Starving Artists.
There will be no shuttle parking at Chatfield School this year because of the construction project at the school. Instead, shuttle parking will be off Commerce Drive in the Xamax and CT Basement Systems parking lots. Follow the shuttle parking signs. Three buses will run continuously all day from Cogwheel Drive in the Silvermine Industrial Park.
The rain date is Sept. 25.
The pumpkin festival is no longer the only fall festival in Seymour. A new festival called the Smoke in the Valley Craft Beer & Chili Festival will debut Saturday, Oct. 1, downtown. The event will run from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and feature more than 30 craft brewers as well as food and live music. General admission tickets for the beer and chili event will be $30. VIP tickets will be $40. The event will benefit the Valley’s own emergency services and Seymour Youth Sports.