North Augusta expects over 20,000 people at Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

News 12 at 6 a.m.

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Thousands will converge on downtown North Augusta this weekend for the 35th annual Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee.

For weeks banners have lined Georgia Avenue, but this weekend thousands will line the streets.

"We'll have our main stage right here at Clifton (Avenue), where we block off Georgia Avenue," said Mandy Nelson, the Tourism and Marketing Director for North Augusta. "Going up the street, we'll have our food vendors, our amusement rides and then we'll start our craft vendors."

More than 20,000 people are expected downtown, the city says.

"It used to be a small, 10 vendor, one block festival," Nelson said. "Not a lot of music acts, your pilot club selling cakes."

Now, the city starts planning in December. But this year, plans changed last minute with the band Smashmouth cancelling.

"We got a call, and the lead singer is out for medical reasons," she said. "So, we kind of had to switch gears."

So, Friday night is country night. They say people can expect a better variety of vendors too. There's more than 150 that will be represented.

The city says there will be more security as well.

"We'll definitely have more security," Nelson said. "We'll have more security in our concert area and all the way up the street."

But, Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee isn't just for North Augusta. It brings people from everywhere.

"We've had people from Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut," Nelson said.

The two-day festival starts Friday at 6 p.m. Then, it picks up again Saturday all day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

As for who's performing, Mark Chesnutt and Thompson Square will play Friday, and the Spin Doctors will headline Saturday. ,