It was 6-year-old Dimitry Olsen’s turn at the high striker. Dressed in a Spider-Man T-shirt, he lifted the mallet, which was as tall as him, over his shoulder and swung down on the lever. As the weight floated toward the bell at the top of the tower, his dad cheered him on.
The father-son duo was making its way around the carnival games at the first annual Great Pumpkin Bash, hosted in Bo Diddley Plaza on Saturday, Oct. 11. By the time they reached the high striker, they had already taken on Balloon Blast and the inflatable corn maze at the center of the festival.
“We got lost, we got separated, but we did make it out alive, right, Dmitri?” 39-year-old Vincent Olsen said. Dimitry nodded, smiling up at his dad.
The Pumpkin Bash attracted about 200 visitors of all ages. Families walked around the plaza, pushing strollers and walking dogs. Vendors sold food, drinks and clothes, while tablers offered information about their organizations. The inaugural fall festival also featured face painting, a scavenger hunt and musical chairs with polka renditions of pop songs.
Planning the festival took over six months, said 58-year-old Carol Velasques Richardson, Gainesville’s cultural affairs manager. Her team realized although it had scheduled Hispanic Heritage Month and Indigenous Peoples Month celebrations in October, and the Downtown Festival and Art Show in November, it had yet to plan and host a fall-themed event.
“We don't have anything that's just really the old-time nostalgia fall, where you play carnival games or have candy apples, and you just come together as a family,” Richardson said.
Richardson and her team quickly contacted vendors and sponsors for the event, which ended up costing around $7,000. The games and decorations added to the price but ultimately proved “a good way for us to use public money,” she said.
The cultural affairs division conducts community surveys at its events to understand what residents want to see. People frequently request more activities for Gainesville youth, so Richardson set out to create a family event. She said seeing hundreds of people together at the festival, including kids of all ages playing games, felt magical.
“It makes me feel good about what we're doing and that we are giving the community what they want,” Richardson said.
For 36-year-old Gainesville resident Rose Ferry, the Pumpkin Bash perfectly combined two of her favorite things: her family and fall. She donned a jack-o’-lantern-patterned dress, while her husband, Robert, wore pumpkin-orange pants. Their children also came in Halloween-themed outfits, including an orange-and-black onesie for their daughter, October, named after Ferry’s favorite month.
In celebration of her favorite time of the year, Ferry said she attends as many fall-themed events as possible. She has loved introducing her children to seasonal traditions, like shopping for Halloween decor.
“I’ve waited my whole life to have a family, and now I have it,” she said. “It’s really sweet, to get to do all the things that I love and bring them to all the things that I love, and they love it, too.”
Contact Juliana DeFilippo at jdefillipo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @JulianaDeF58101.
Juliana is the Fall 2025 Avenue editor. She is a second-year journalism student and spent her first two semesters with The Alligator as an Avenue reporter. In her spare time, she can be found reading, updating her Letterboxd account, or doing crossword puzzles.
