By james art BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Birmingham families attended Halloween downtown for the Harvest Festival Thursday night.
After several years without the festival, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin decided to bring it back this year.
Alicia Lumpkin, director of process improvement for the city of Birmingham, said months of preparation went into making the festival possible.
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“We had a petting zoo, we had horse rides, carnival rides, carnival games, so it’s just a lot for everyone,” Lumpkin said. “We wanted to have a fun and safe event for families, so we brought back the Harvest Festival.”
With the help of law enforcement, local nonprofits and businesses, Lumpkin said they were able to make that vision a reality.
Parents present say they chose to bring their children to the event because of the safe atmosphere.
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“I appreciate them doing that, making us feel like we have a safe place to go with everything that’s going on. Most people don’t want to deal with trick or treating with everything going on,
so it was just a safe place,” Ashley Jackson said.
Jackson said she decided to bring her son to the festival to oppose trick-or-treating in neighborhoods for safety reasons.
Lumpkins said they estimate about two to three thousand people stopped by the festival.
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