The Great Painted Pumpkin Festival – an annual fundraiser benefiting nonprofits in Acadiana, hosted by Latter & Blum – will take place again this year with safety precautions in place due to the pandemic. This year, the event will take place at Parc International in Downtown Lafayette at 3 pm on Saturday, October 24, and will be followed by a showing of “Jurassic Park” for Downtown Lafayette’s Movies in the Parc series presented by Lafayette Kiwanis. Gates open for the movie at 6 p.m. Participants must wear masks and practice social distancing. Children under the age of eight are encouraged to wear a mask.

Due to current state mandates on outdoor event capacity, everyone must pre-register to attend. All registered attendees can bring a painted pumpkin to enter into the pumpkin-judging contest or paint a pumpkin on site.

The Painted Pumpkin Festival team will provide paint, markers, other decorating materials, and pumpkins to attendees. Adults and children will have fun testing their creative abilities while benefiting a variety of Acadiana area nonprofits. A panel of judges will select first, second, and third place winners in a variety of categories. The painted pumpkin contest will award cash prizes to winners, and face-painting will also be offered to families and fun-seekers.