Daily Herald Contributor.
The Hot Rods, Dave Arsenault and the Impressions, and Aiden Edwards and East Side of 2nd are on the scheduled as organizers prepare for the 2024 Pumpkin Music Festival at Paintball Paradise on Sept. 21-22.
Local country musician Katelyn Lehner has also confirmed she will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Dave Arsenault and The Hot Rods will play both days, while East Side of 2nd will play on Sunday.
“We started it before COVID, then COVID kind of killed it off for a bit,” Pumpkin Music Festival organizer George Lewko said. “It was highlighting young local bands. Now it’s just highlighting the local bands.”
Lewko said they originally wanted to provide young bands with a place to perform, since so many had trouble finding venues. He said finding good venues can still be a problem, regardless of how experienced the band is, so he decided to bring the festival back. This will mark the third time it’s been held.
“They didn’t have any place to play, so we got off the idea to run a music festival,” he explained. “It’s a nice time of year, and it looks really nice out…. People can take lots of pictures around lots of places.”
Other events to enjoy will include the regular Corn Maze and the Fairy Tale Trail of Jack and the Corn Stalk. A tractor ride will also be included.
There will also be a games such as Giant Checkers with pumpkins on or 4’x4′ Checker Board and Tic Tac Toe with pumpkins.
Lewko also said that the festival is primarily for adults, but children are also welcome.. Tickets are available for $20 for those 13 years and older, and $15 for children ages three to 12. Children two and under are free.
“It’s kind of a normal fall thing, but with a lot more things to take pictures with,” he said.
There will also be pumpkins for sale – $1 for super small, $2 for mini pumpkins, $3 for a small (under 5 lbs), $5 for large ones, $10 for huge ones. There will be orange, whites, yellow, warted, darlings, yellow with orange stripes, and all types of shapes.
There will be 2 different Target Shooting Booths (Bazooka Ball and Paintball), $2-5 and a prize to be won.
The hot kitchen will be running, with burgers, hot dogs, fries and gravy, poutine, mini donuts and delicious homemade pumpkin pie (maybe apple and Saskatoon as well). Pumpkin soup too.
“We will have our canteen too with: popcorn, hot chocolate, Caramel Pumpkin macchiato, Caramel White Chocolate cappuccino, candy floss, coffee and cold canned pop, Gatorade, bottled water, nachos and cheese, chocolate bars, jerky and candy bags,” Lewko said in a press release.
The tickets are available at the door, or for pre-purchase on the pumpkin music festival’s website.
