Not everything about Halloween is specifically designed to be horrific and terrifying. Granted, it's undoubtedly the favored portion of this holiday, but there are activities still fun filled for the whole family. The major event being referred to is, of course, the Pumpkin Festival down in Sarasota! Every year in the month of October comes this little celebration that consists of friendly scarecrows, bumpy hay-rides and, naturally, pumpkins! Instead of an in-your-face horror you can relax and create great new memories with your family.
This year will be Sarasota's 8th annual celebration of the Pumpkin Festival starting on October 28th and ending on the 30th from 12pm to 10pm each day it's open for. This year's location will be at a new location, Premier Sports Campus (5895 Post Blvd. Lakewood Ranch FL 34211) The Sarasota Pumpkin Festival is a yearly festival where families gather to get further into the spirit of Halloween without having to worry about urinating your pants from fear. It's a family sanctioned event that draws people closer together, and there's many sights to see when you do go there. This year, for the kids (or childish adults), they'll feature a Ninja Turtle that you could meet.
The grounds itself are set with many different sections for different subjects. If you've run around a lot there's a nice place you could go to eat food from happy faced vendors. Or if you haven't run around enough they have an amusement center full of free hayrides, and pony rides along with rides in general where you can gather even more thrill than what you'd already gotten. Also, when it gets a little darker out the vendors will be open to any children who want to trick-or-treat.
This year in order to get people to start coming more they've even added additions making it fun for all ages. Not only do they have normal frightening mazes but now they've made a pumpkin maze that you could walk through, with lit up lanterns and scary ghoulish faces. As well as that, they'll feature a Circus act, and who doesn't love a good circus show? After all the running around and eating, kicking back and watching trained professionals do daring stunts and funny skits would be a great way for relaxation. In order to make the place more ‘visitor involved’ they've made pie eating contests and costume contests where you can compete against other families to come out as supreme!
So what more could you possibly need? There's so much old fashioned joy that follows the fantastic productivity of the marvelous Pumpkin Festival. It's family friendly and has a high involvement rate where kids can really let loose and have fun, and when they get home sleep soundly instead of jittering around through the night. From Haunted Hayrides to face painting and Ninja Turtles, It's worth the travel and it can be guaranteed that you'll have a serious blast!
I do have to give some credit for this article to my awesome sister at home who helped not only come up with an idea but also helped begin and end writing it. Thanks Belle!
