By Ashley Cruz and Carolina Maciel, Oct.4, 2022
On Friday Sept. 30, Cal Poly Pomona kicked off its pumpkin festival season with its first ever preview night. The preview was a 21-and-over event with access to wine tasting, food bites, tractor hayrides, games and more.
The preview night was a way to let adults enjoy some time out with friends, family and colleagues. There were a lot of CPP alumni, faculty and people from the community of Pomona. All the food vendors were from or around the city of Pomona and made sure every bite of food was as delicious as it can be.
Tickets were only $70, and it all came with unlimited wine tasting and food. It also included the petting zoo and a view of rows of pumpkins ready to be picked.
“I feel like the event is really nice, everybody here together for these festivities, donating to this college, and having all these people in this nice setting is something different,” said CPP alumna, Marilyn Ramirez. “I haven’t experienced this before, just walking around grabbing some food getting some drinks and just enjoying the time.”
Over 100 people attended the Pumpkin fest preview. Guests enjoyed the event with friends and family and loved the idea of being able to give back to CPP by attending this event. All proceeds from this event went towards the Huntley College of Agriculture for the students and programs.
Since CPP’s motto is “Learn by doing,” there were CPP students helping at the event. All the pumpkin placements, the care of the animals from the petting farm, food, entry and help booth were ran by students.
Working in the booth giving away lemonade and pretzel bites, was CPP dietetics major student Stephanie Contreras and she said, “I love it, it’s cool, I’ve never seen this many people. Everything has been flowing pretty well, people have been loving the food. I’m pretty sure this is an event people will be looking forward to years and years on end.”
CPP President Soraya M. Coley even made an appearance at the event and shared her thoughts on the preview night. “I think what we’re really recognizing is that the pumpkin fest is for the entire community, it’s not just for folks from CPP. The thing I love about it is that it’s giving people a real perspective about the importance of agriculture and farming.”
The preview night was one night only, but the pumpkin fest starts Oct. 1 through Oct. 30. For tickets or more information, check out the pumpkin fest website.
Feature image courtesy of Carolina Maciel
