Flower Power Celebrated at South Lyon Pumpkinfest

(Jon A. Berz, Sept. 26, 2017)

South Lyon, MI – For the past 33 years, South Lyon businesses and families have staged the annual Pumpkinfest, coinciding with the changing seasons, the coloring of the leaves and autumnal harvest. While this year’s weather made it feel more like a Fourth of July celebration, the South Lyon area was energized with the spirit of a fall holiday spectacular, with elements of parade, carnival and art fair all rolled into one.

The Pumpkinfest opened Friday at 6pm and continued throughout the weekend. Saturday morning felt like the official opening of fall with a celebratory parade that brought thousands out along Pontiac Trail between Nine and Ten Mile Roads. The parade included many young sports teams, pom squads, church groups, dance troupes, boy and girl scouts, and a smattering of bands, as hundreds of kids danced and played their way up the main street. The floats were as creative as always (with more than one Mystery Machine making an appearance) and politicians new and old were seen waving to former or (hopefully) future constituents. Write-in candidates walked the crowds, waving and shaking hands, and ex-Mayor Ted Wallace was seen hanging from the back of the South Lyon Hotel float. Many local businesses took advantage of the small town parade to flash their logos and website addresses to thousands from sparkly decorated Mylar-covered cars and trailers.

A big theme of the day was “flower power” as many cars were decked out with psychedelic colors, and many a tie dye’d shirt was seen among the marching crowds. There was a general spirit of sunny good cheer, which maybe had something to do with the fact that it was an unseasonably 90-degree day in early Fall.

There were enough vendors to keep families perusing and there were things for everyone, from jewelry to decorative rocks, hand-stitched puppets to handmade figurines, DIY cornhole and other family party games that were built and painted by festivalgoers. All over town were plenty of activities for kids, arts and crafts booths, a parking lot full of bounce houses and moonwalks, bungee ropes, an aerial dog show, biergarten, music stage, and food truck and trailer delicacies such as corn dogs, tacos, pizza, and elephant ears.

The vegetable of the hour was of course given pre-eminence. Thousand-pound pumpkins were brought in by pallet for families to gawk at, and a great stack of pumpkin-covered hay towered under the streetlight at the city’s main intersection at Pontiac Trail and Lake Street. Sunday’s festivities included a “great pumpkin contest”, a pumpkin-pie eating contest, scarecrow contest, and many other fun activities to get families’ hands slimy, and to put everyone into the spirit of fall, and looking ahead to more wonderful family events, community activities, and joyous holidays that the late-year seasons bring.

Learn about more events at: http://oaklandcounty115.com/events/