Pumpkinfest brings home major awards

Participants and not-for-profit representatives join Pumpkinfest Board members to see recent awards – for larger view, CLICK on image     

Festivals and Events Ontario (FEO) has announced the 2019 FEO Achievement Award winners that showcase various elements of festivals or events that have stood out in the previous festival year. The Achievement Awards were handed out on Thursday February 28th during FEO’s annual conference “ENGAGE” in London, Ontario.

Submissions from FEO members were received for consideration in the fall of 2018 and were judged by an independent panel of judges. Festivals and events of all kinds from every corner of Ontario were represented in the submissions – from community festivals to internationally recognized events.

Up against some of the biggest events in Ontario, such as Toronto’s PRIDE and the Niagara Tulip Festival, Port Elgin Pumpkinfest brought home several honours.  “It’s incredible when you consider the size of our town against the large urban centres,” said Joanne Robbins, Pumpkinfest Co-ordinator.

                                                          CLICK on image for larger view

Among the many entries, Port Elgin Pumpkinfest was recognized in three categories –

1. One of the Top 100 Festivals in Ontario

2. Best Community Involvement 

3. Best New Sponsorship for our partnership with Sunbelt Rentals which was recognized for all of Ontario.

 

(L) Mayor Luke Charbonneau, Dave Mensher,, Bill Harwood and Cody Fletis               of Sunbelt and Joanne Robbins of Pumpkinfest

On Monday, March 4th, many not-for-profit organizations joined the Pumpkinfest Board and Mayor, to see first-hand the awards that they all participated in.  Mayor Luke Charbonneau said that the Festival is a huge success and  “These awards come as no surprise. This Festival has won awards in the past and will keep on winning awards into the future because of all the work that volunteers and participants do.  What is really special about these awards is that they recognize the community partnerships that Pumpkinfest has forged for its whole existence.  Those partnerships make Pumpkinfest strong and our whole community strong and I want to say thank you to everyone and to Sunbelt for going above and beyond.”

(L) Pumpkinfest Joanne Robbins and Lynda Cain of Ontario Power Generation (OPG)
(L) Dave Mensher and Joanne Robbins     – for larger view, CLICK on image