MORRISBURG, Ontario – The shortened summer season at Upper Canada Village will draw to a close on September 6th, but that doesn’t mean there are no fall events planned, even in a pandemic.
The popular Pumpkinferno will open for the Fall 2020 season be- ginning September 27th.
This year’s edition will be different than in years past due to COVID-19 restrictions.
This year, long lineups will be a thing of the past as the St. Lawrence Parks Commission is only booking tickets online.
Only 360 tickets per night will be sold, with 60 visitors entering the village spaced 30 minutes apart.
To help with fewer tickets per day being sold, Pumpkinferno is being extended to seven days per week operation. In past years the event was open for only four days per week.
SLPC spokesperson Krista Doyle confirmed there are two scheduled accessibility nights planned: October 13th and October 20th. Online tickets will not be available for those two dates, tickets can only be booked by contacting customer service.
Except for accessibility nights, all tickets must be purchased in advance online. No walk up sales are allowed.
There are some changes inside the event as well. This year there will be no wagon rides or going inside the UCV buildings except for the entrance and gift shop. Snacks will be available in the gift shop, and Beavertails just outside the UCV entrance will be open.
Inside the village, there will be physical distancing spacing marked out to ensure safe spaces.
In early July, the SLPC re- ceived an injection of over $7 million from the Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture Industries to help sustain the village and events like Pumpkinferno while the tourism industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pumpkinferno will run nightly from September 27th to October 31st. For ticket information, visit the SLPC website at parks.on.ca.
This story was originally written for and published in the Morrisburg Leader.
