MORRISBURG – Record-setting attendance at Upper Canada Village for Pumpkinferno this past weekend resulted in record traffic on South Dundas roads.
Visitors to UCV faced traffic line-ups over two hours long Saturday night. Traffic was stalled on County Road 2 with line-ups between County Road 8 west of the village, to east of Aultsville Road.
County Road 41/Upper Canada Road was wall-to-wall vehicles between County Road 2 and Highway 401. The traffic jam continued to the 401, with a three kilometre backup on the eastbound off ramp, and half of a kilometre on the westbound off ramp. SDG OPP closed the eastbound off ramp for 40 minutes to clear the backlog of vehicles.
A record 22,000 people visited Pumpkinferno on the weekend. Attendance Saturday was over 8,500 people. So far this season, 57,734 people have attended Pumpkinferno, setting a new attendance record. The previous record was 38,000 people, set in 2015.
“The crowds are really unprecedented and are definitely boosted by the amazing fall weather we are experiencing.” said Tracey Ogilby, acting manager of Upper Canada Village. “Our team quickly took action and implemented changes on Sunday evening to get people off the highway and into the parking areas quicker.”
The changes put in place at the village included installing temporary lighting to expand parking capacity, and added parking control staff who started two and a half hours earlier. The village also increased staff to process pre-paid tickets for the event.
In addition, the St. Lawrence Parks Commission doubled the number of OPP officers hired to assist with traffic control on the roadways leading to the village.
“The challenges encountered with Pumpkinferno were compounded by beautiful fall weather,” said Susan Leclair, manager of customer service and corporate communications. “It is quite unusual to have temperatures in the 20 degrees Celsius range in late October.”
Leclair stated that village staff will be doing a full review of the event, looking at how to improve how they handle traffic and visitors. They will also take any new processes implemented for Pumpkinferno and apply to the upcoming Alight at Night event where appropriate.
Pumpkinferno will continue for one more weekend.
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