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Date: 10/7/2020
WESTFIELD – As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Westfield on Weekends’ annual PumpkinFest will continue with two drive-by tours and a movie showing at the Westfield Boys and Girls Club.
Bob Plasse, one of the vice presidents at Westfield on Weekends, said he knew early on that they would need to create a modified version for PumpkinFest this year.
“Early on this year we knew we might have to make some changes for PumpkinFest, knowing that it attracts thousands to the center of Westfield every year. We really had to come up with a way to maintain the event in some fashion that would be safe and responsible,” he said.
As part of the modified PumpkinFest, the typical Scarecrow Trail is taking the center stage.
“We decided that we would enlarge one of the components of the former PumpkinFest, the Scarecrow Trail, which was created years ago for Colonial Harvest Day,” he said.
Along with the Scarecrow Trail, residents can also participate in a drive-by Haunted House Tour.
“Halloween is becoming like the Holiday season when people are decorating their houses more than ever and why not do a Haunted House tour for folks who do a larger display? So, we added that as a drive by event,” Plasse said.
To find the different locations for the Scarecrow Trail and Haunted House, residents can check out the virtual map on westfieldonweekends.com.
“The GPS map has businesses and individual homes that are participating in the trail, so folks have the entire month to pull up the neighborhood and visit the scarecrows in that neighborhood with their kids,” Plasse said.
Residents can participate in both the Scarecrow Trail and Haunted House Tour from Oct. 16 to Oct. 31 and vote on their favorites at westfieldonweekends.com.
“We are surprised at the response. Our website has had over 8,000 hits so far and it just continues to grow and grow, and we’re still three weeks out,” Plasse said.
Along with the two drive by events, Plasse said Westfield on Weekends will be teaming up with the Boys and Girls Club for a drive-in movie showing as well.
“We thought Fall and drive-in movies go together so why don’t we do a drive-in movie that features a Halloween inspired movie. So, we’re going to show Hocus Pocus, the classic with Bette Middler on Oct. 17,” Plasse said.
In the run up to PumpkinFest, Westfield on Weekends also hosted several scarecrow making workshops and Plasse said they sold around 250 scarecrow kits.
While PumpkinFest typically brings businesses to the center of Westfield, Plasse said they understand the difficult circumstances this year.
“Everyone in our town has understood COVID and the fact that these are very challenging times. We all have to go back to the drawing board and reimagine PumpkinFest in a way that doesn’t include them. However, many of those businesses have either purchased scarecrow kits or made their own for the trail,” he said.
The new template for PumpkinFest has been received so well that Plasse Westfield on Weekends will be using a similar one for DecemberFest.
“PumpkinFest Reimagined has been received so well by our community that its format is going to be used for our DecemberFest activities. We’ll be having a holiday lighting drive by event, and we are adding DecemberFest in the same way by thinking outside of the box,” he said.
Plasse added that while the COVID pandemic has been a challenge for planning their larger events, it has increased their creativity.
“When you think of this time period for people who do events, we really have to be wise and responsible with planning an event. It’s caused us to be even more creative than in the past. We try to make our events as creative and fun as possible, so to be challenged by the COVID crisis has forced up to come up with some good ideas,” he said.