See what pumpkins and pies mean for Long Beach

The City of Long Beach’s Fall Festival has been a tradition for over two decades. You know it’s fall when it makes its return.

This Saturday and Sunday, the event will once again turn Kennedy Plaza orange, yellow and brown. But this one will be a little more special.

“It’s essentially the same festival everyone knows,” city spokesman John McNally said. “But this year is the 25th anniversary of the Fall Festival.”

The highlights, as always, will include a pumpkin patch filled with thousands of gourds. A pumpkin bounce house, a carousel, hayrides, fire engine rides and a children’s activity tent with fall-themed crafts will all return as well.

While children are enjoying the games and goodies, their parents can enjoy some goodies of their own. Those who are 21 and older can visit a food and wine tent and sample offerings from local restaurants. An array of food vendors will also be on hand, offering international fare along Park Avenue.

The costume parade, a popular, longstanding tradition, is scheduled to begin at noon on Saturday at the Recreation Center. Children up to fifth grade are invited to participate, and wear their favorite costumes. All of those in costume will receive a trick-or-treat bag filled with goodies, including passes for a public skating session at the Long Beach Ice Arena.

Prizes for the best costumes will be awarded on the bandwagon at the plaza at the end of the parade.

Live music and entertainment will bring the noise to the festival. There will be seven performances over the course of two days, six focusing on music and one animal show.

“There’s some people that we’ve used in the past that just sort of fit the bill for the Fall Festival,” McNally said. “Kerry Ann Troy really goes through and picks the entertainment for the days.” Troy is the city’s events coordinator.

Nearly 30 vendors, known as the festival’s “vendor village,” will offer fresh produce, breads and pies, as well as crafts. The food and wine tent is new, and will give a number of local restaurants the chance to offer samples from their menus.

Each year, the city announces a number of sponsors of the festival. Last year, the Norway-based energy company Equinor was the headline sponsor, the largest of 20. The choice proved controversial, given the vocal opposition around the city to Equinor’s proposed Empire Wind offshore wind-turbine project.

Equinor officials joined then City Manager Donna Gayden, City Council members Karen McInnis and Liz Treston, Police Commissioner and Acting City Manager Ron Walsh, and Parks Commissioner Joe Brand at a news conference a few days before last year’s event to announce the partnership.

Equinor was expected to take on a large role in the city’s life. The plans for the $3 billion Empire Wind include an underground cable that would be routed beneath Long Beach to a substation near the E.F. Barrett Power Station in Island Park. A Jack-Up Barge was built and began operating in the Atlantic off Lido Beach last year, taking samples of the soil underwater to test its strength, in order to determine the best location for the cable.

At numerous open houses and meetings focusing on the project, city residents voiced their complaints. One, Christina Kramer, who led a session in Atlantic Beach, echoed the concerns raised by residents of neighboring communities.

“We’ve all purchased property here, raising our children here, because we love this peaceful environment,” Kramer said. “They’re going to be running three high-voltage cables right in front of my home.”

The Long Beach City Council eventually united in opposition to Empire Wind, and in July it sent a letter to that effect to Gov. Kathy Hochul. The council wrote that its members were “fully in support of the necessary and urgently needed transition to renewable energy,” and were ready to engage with an “offshore wind developer that proposes a reasonable project.”

Equinor is not a part of this year’s festivities.