Pumpkinfest in Port Elgin will no longer be promoted as being held on the “first weekend in October.”
The organizing committee met Monday night and decided the festival will alter its dates to ensure the event doesn’t fall on the Thanksgiving weekend.
Events Co-ordinator Sally Hunt says it will have no impact this year, with Pumpkinfest set for October 1st and 2nd, 2011.
However, three years over the next 10 years will see Pumpkinfest in Port Elgin held on the last weekend of September — in 2012, 2017 and 2018.
Hunt says she polled the members of the Chamber of Commerce and some liked the event on the Thanksgiving weekend because their family could come home, enjoy Pumpkinfest and still have their Thanksgiving dinner.
Others who were polled wanted the weekend changed because they are already busy on a Thanksgiving weekend, and moving Pumpkinfest would ensure a second weekend for foot-traffic downtown.
Pumpkinfest brings in 5.3 million dollars to the local economy each year.
This year is the 25th anniversary of Pumpkinfest.
