Anyone who thinks the number 13 is unlucky obviously did not attend the 13th annual Wesley Chapel Fall Festival at The Grove at Wesley Chapel shopping center the weekend of Oct. 28-29.
In its second year since taking the event over from the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCC), Pinellas County-based event organizer Simply Events reports that there were at least 1,000 more cars that visited the Fall Fest this year than last year, when the two-day crowd was estimated at 10,000 people.
“Since there’s no admission fee, the only way to judge the attendance is by the number of cars that showed up, because we have our security people counting those cars,” says Sonya Bradley of Simply Events. “But, Saturday this year was definitely the biggest crowd we’ve seen so far.”
Unfortunately, with the winds gusting to 30-40 miles per hour early Sunday morning, many of the 110 vendors and crafters who were on hand on Sat. shut their booths down on Sun.
“We know our attendees were not happy with Sunday,” Bradley said. “We lost 18 tents & 25 total vendors before we opened on Sunday because of high winds. The Pumpkin Pageant set the right tone for Sunday, but the winds really hurt us.”
The pet costume parade and the Trunk or Treat events kept big crowds on site all day Sat.
“Our Chamber group ran out of 500 pieces of candy in less than an hour,” beamed proud WCCC CEO Hope Allen after the event. “In fact, all of the vehicles that gave out candy for Trunk or Treat pretty much ran out of candy, too. We will definitely partner again next year with Simply Events. What a great job they did!”
For more pics and a recap of the contest winners and sponsors at this year’s Fall Fest — which already is scheduled for the same pre-Halloween weekend (Oct. 26-27) next year — visit SimplyEventsFL.com. — GN
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