Dugas Park hosts “Pumpkins in the Park”
Dugas Community Park hosted their inaugural Pumpkins in the Park event on Saturday, Oct. 26. The event had a great turnout, with dozens of families showing up to celebrate Halloween.
By Damon Stone,
Staff Writer
Dugas Community Park recently held their inaugural “Pumpkins in the Park” event on Saturday, Oct. 26, which ran from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and preceded their “Dugas After Dark Oxbow Bonfire event.”
D. Porter, the fundraising and special events coordinator at the park, wanted to start the event to fill the gap in the park’s event schedule.
“We do Easter every spring, fireworks every summer, and I said, ‘Well, what do we do in the fall?’” Porter explained. “And the answer was that what we’ve been doing is this drive-through trunk or treating, and I was like, ‘No, we do big festivals for the other two seasons, we have to do something in fall, and in my opinion, Scottsville shows out in the fall.”
Porter explained that he wanted the park to reflect the town’s enthusiasm for Halloween by hosting a large event with vendors, live entertainment, and various activities for the kids of the community.
The Scottsville Art Guild manned the Kid Zone at the festival, where local artisans were able to have games for kids in the community.
“We’ve got Scarecrows on the Square, I feel like trick-or-treating and the spooky season is something that we celebrate here in Scottsville,” Porter explained. “I wanted to bring that energy to a space here in the park to encourage citizens new and old to be able to come to a safe space to bring their children to be able to run free, have fun, have too much candy, have a little bit of a sugar rush, and be able to be around safe eyes and in a space where we can just let kids be kids.”
A tradition for Halloween has always been that of costumes, and several people at the event did the same, with some dressing as their favorite superheroes, some in more humorous attire, and some opting to lean into the spookier side of the holiday.
Emmett Wooley, son of Dylan Wooley, opted to slide down the slide head-first dressed as Harry Potter, as onlookers watched.
“To me, my role is to create those core memory development opportunities,” Porter explained. “We all have these pieces of nostalgia growing up, especially those of us who are here from Scottsville long ago. (…) I wanted to create a space for this next generation, this upcoming generation, to have those memories right here at Dugas Community Park, because I believe that’s the best way that we can honor the legacy of families that left this land to us.”
As a part of the Kid Zone, the park provided two bounce houses for the kids to enjoy. One of which was a more traditional bounce house, and the other one was an obstacle course with a slide at the end.
The event saw a great deal of support from local businesses and organizations, including local banks such as South Central Bank, ServiceOne Credit Union and First Bank, who made contributions to ensure the event happened.
“I have to give kudos to both the Scottsville Art Guild and the Scottsville Arts Council, who kind of overtook a whole section of the event,” Porter said.
Harrison Briggs, son of Josh and Kristi Briggs, wore a more humorous costume at the festival.
The Arts Guild put together the youth zone for the event, where kids could play games put together by local artisans, along with John Buchanon acting as the DJ for the music at the event, being positioned on the stage.
“(Buchanon) set that stage up on his own, and he is there to DJ and make sure we have music all day for the families and the people who come here,” Porter expressed. “(…) Those two organizations especially have shown up in a big way for us today, and we’re very grateful.”
The Oxbow Bonfire was held after 7 p.m. that night, and was originally to be held on September 27, but had to be postponed due to hurricane-adjacent weather.
“We wanted to kind of do this big announcement and this bonfire, but unfortunately, the weather had other plans,” Porter explained.
The Oxbow Campground is located at the end of the path next to the cabin at the park, and is available to rent on Hipcamp, a third-party app similar to AirBnB but made specifically for campgrounds.
Heather Grimes took her two kids, Hayleigh and Eli, with the latter opting to wear a costume that leans into the scary side of Halloween.
“(These events are) about establishing new traditions and honoring ways of old,” Porter said. “We can talk about what it means to be a tight knit community, and to have these beautiful spaces where kids can come together and celebrate and make memories,” Porter expressed. “But we can also say let’s do it in a new way. (…) I’m really happy to be the person to bring our inaugural Pumpkins in the Park to Dugas and to our community.”
Porter expressed that he hopes to see the event become a staple of the community, akin to fair days, the demolition derby, and various other events.
John Buchanon, right, manned the stage during the event, playing music with D. Porter, left, hosting the regular raffle. The raffle was conducted every 30 minutes throughout the event.
“We as the park staff are so grateful to the community for showing up, and then being a part of this vision and helping us execute it and do great things,” Porter added.
Porter added that a new website for the park will be unveiled in the new year, and that he encourages everyone to follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
The event had originally been just a trunk-or-treat at the park, but Porter insisted on changing it to be the festival that it was on Saturday.
“(We hope that) people continue to come to this beautiful gem of a space, because at the end of the day, it’s for us,” Porter expressed. “It’s for not just Scottsville and Allen County, but it’s for our region. Laura Joe and Wayne Dugas were proud of our county, so if not here at home, where else?”
