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Pumpkins and Ponies is canceled

Larson: Ground is too saturated with water

HUMBOLDT – This year’s Pumpkins and Ponies has been canceled following several days of rainy weather and more predicted for the weekend.

It was originally scheduled to be this Saturday and Sunday at SpringVale Farm, 2603 Lone Tree Road, Humboldt.

But Lonnie Larson, who owns the farm along with her husband, Bob Larson, said the weather caused them to make the difficult decision.

“Starting Monday night and overnight yesterday (Tuesday), we had another 5 inches here,” she said of the rainfall. “The ground was so saturated before that and the forecast coming up shows the potential for more moisture and some pretty chilly temperatures.”

With the combination of horses, ponies and a stage coach coming with the saturated grounds, Larson said “it just wasn’t going to work.”

There’s also very few places to park with the wet ground.

“There’s just a lot of hurdles the weather threw up,” she said. “We’re very disappointed that we needed to reach that decision, but we feel it’s the right thing under the circumstances.”

This is the first time Pumpkins and Ponies has been canceled.

It also would have been the 13th year of the event, which Larson wondered had anything to do with all the bad luck.

“I just wonder if that 13 is just unlucky,” she said. “We’ve been really fortunate the past years to have some pretty nice weather. This has been the year of a lot of extremes, I think.”

Larson said she anticipates Pumpkins and Ponies will be back next year, but it won’t be happening this year.

She added that she wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and all those who have attended in previous years.

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