TURNERS FALLS — The Great Falls Festival — the October festival formerly known as Pumpkinfest — has been canceled this year, due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mike Nelson, one of the founders and lead organizers of the festival, said he fully expects the event to resume next year. A date of Oct. 23, 2021 has already been set.
The festival is a one-day event in which most of downtown Turners Falls is closed to traffic and filled with vendors, performers and games. Nelson said it typically draws about 10,000 people. This year’s event would have been the 11th annual.
As the pandemic flared this spring, Nelson said festival organizers delayed as long as possible on the decision of whether to cancel, hoping that, by the fall, the situation might improve. However, in recent weeks they ultimately decided conditions would not be safe by then.
Moreover, in Massachusetts’ reopening plan, large public gatherings aren’t permitted until Phase 4, which will not happen until a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 becomes widely available.
Nelson, who is also president of the Franklin County Agricultural Society, which organizes the Franklin County Fair each September, also had to announce that event’s cancellation last month.
“It’s a bummer,” he said of canceling the Great Falls Festival. “We’re really disappointed by it. It’s certainly one of my favorite events to put on and host. But that’s the way of the world this year.”
Most of the planning for this year’s canceled Great Falls Festival can easily be transferred to next year’s, Nelson said. The cancellation also allows for extra time to plan next year’s event.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.