3rd annual Pumpkinfest takes over streets of Evans City
EVANS CITY — Once is a happening, twice is a coincidence and three times is a tradition.
On the weekend of Sept. 21 and 22, the streets of Evans City were packed for the third annual Pumpkinfest, a celebration of all things autumn and all things pumpkin.
“It's such a great community event,” said Molly DiFiore, the vice president of Evans City’s events committee. “We love being able to bring the town together, and also bringing visitors to the town just to see how cute this area is.”
According to DiFiore, the event was primarily the brainchild of Pam Greenawalt, the owner of P&B’s Sweets and Eats on East Main Street. Greenawalt pushed for an event which would serve as a successor to Evans City’s former fall tradition, the Octoberfest, which ended after 2021 when the organizers retired.
“It is a full team effort to do this,” DiFiore said. “I think the whole town of Evans City really pulled together to make this festival.”
If it had the word pumpkin in it, chances are that you could find it at the Pumpkinfest, which featured a pumpkin decorating contest, a pumpkin pie eating contest, pumpkin carriage rides, a pumpkin-themed mini-golf course and pumpkin-spice lattes at Coffee Brake. Outside the Evans City Public Library, families could pose in front of a 3D chalk art display, which gave the illusion that someone was sitting atop a giant pumpkin on a pickup truck.
Union Project, a Pittsburgh-based community art initiative, brought its “Wheel Mobile” mobile pottery station to Pumpkinfest to create pumpkin-themed ceramic works of art.
“We bring our Wheel Mobile around to different events to share the joy of clay with people,” said volunteer Cassie Beattie.
One of the new activities featured at this year’s Pumpkinfest was the community art show, held at the Gospel Life Church on South Washington Street. The art show received 45 submissions, which included paintings, drawings, fabric art, sculptures, and photography, as well as a kids’ section. A people’s choice award was issued for both adults and kids.
“This year, the goal was just to get people involved and showcase some of the talent that we have in our area,” said Allison Reagan, a member of the church who oversaw the art show. “Our church was really excited to be able to use our facilities to do that.”
One of the artists who submitted to the art show was Sandy Ayers, who recently moved to the area from Washington state. One of Ayers’ submissions was a portrait of a little girl which she drew entirely in graphite.
“I did a couple of portraits in church for some parents of their children, and word got around that I did that,” Ayers said. “They invited me to put my stuff in (the art show).”
While this was the first time Ayers submitted to an art show, she has been drawing seriously for roughly five years, mainly as a way of recovering from a heart attack she suffered around that time.
“You have a lot of spare time when you’re not able to do a lot of stuff. So I just perfected what I’ve loved to do for my entire life,” Ayers said. “I have not been trained. I do it on my own.”
Aside from the art show, Pumpkinfest was graced by plenty of live entertainment, with acts such as This That and the Other Thing, Massive Hawk, and the Seneca Valley Orchestra performing on the main stage near the Evans City Volunteer Fire Department hall on North Jackson Street.
Pumpkinfest even received a visitor from a neighboring municipality, as Gregg Hartung — mayor of Mars — dropped by on Sunday afternoon. In two weeks’ time, his own borough will be hosting a similar event, the Mars Applefest on Saturday, Oct. 5.
“Pumpkinfest is great. It’s one of those small-town community things where people get together,” Hartung said. “And we’ll be doing it in two weeks in Mars.”
