Festival exit leaves Pound House Farmstead to seek new funds to operate historic museum

The Dripping Springs Pumpkin Festival is moving from the town in its name to the city of Uhland in east Hays county and rebranding itself as the Uhland Fall Fest.

The festival held its last event at the Pound House Farmstead grounds in October 2023, after a three-year run.

The festival was well attended, drawing 70,000 visitors over six weekends. But the festival quickly outgrew the capacity of the park and drew complaints from some residents of heavy traffic and increasing safety concerns for fire and emergency medical services.

City officials told the Century News that the festival was popular, especially with families and children and would have liked to have such a festival if it had a larger facility to host the weekend crowds and the traffic it attracted.

Instead, this fall, the festival will be held in the town of Uhland in the eastern part of the county, Uhland is a farming community near the intersection of FM 150 and Hwy 21. The inaugural Fall Fest will keep many of the same themes popular from the Pumpkin Festival.

One of the main beneficiaries of the festival was the Friends of the Pound House Foundation, the nonprofit board which oversees the preservation and operation of the Pound House Farmstead, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been a Texas State Historical Landmark since 1965. It has been a museum since 2003.

As event host, the Pound House shared in the profits of the festival. Christopher Durst, event promoter said the festival also raised $100,000 for the Friends of Pound House Foundation, which oversees funds to maintain and operate the farmstead, keeping it open for visitors today.

Brenda DeWitt, executive director for the Pound House Farmstead, said the funds were critical in repairing some of the structures that make up the historical site.

“These funds were particularly critical after the pandemic and allowed us to open to the public in 2023,” DeWitt said. “The festival revenue made up a significant portion of our budget,” she added. Other funds come from small grants, patron donations and a share of the city’s hotel and occupancy tax, DeWitt said.

She said the loss of this revenue will be a challenge for the organization whose mission is to keep the farmstead in good condition, and open for tours. Now the board will look at other ways to raise revenue.

“Every visitor that tours the Pound House Farmstead can't help but have an increased sense of appreciation for their Dripping Springs community. This increased appreciation of the community creates an increased awareness of the need for the community to support their heritage being preserved at the farmstead through donations, participation and volunteerism,” DeWitt said.

This year the foundation has new officers, board members and volunteers that are positioned to increase tourism and fundraising in order to support the Pound House Farmstead. “This is essential after losing the Pumpkin Festival which was a major supporter of our annual operations. The Farmstead will also increase open hours, host more community events and is now available to the public as an event venue.

She said she is grateful that Durst has joined the board of trustees and is now its president so he can continue to be a champion for the foundation and its mission.

“We are grateful for Christopher’s support of what we do,” said DeWitt. “We are already talking about ideas to attract the right kind and size of events to the Pound House in order to fund our operations and preserve this site for generations to come,” DeWitt said.

The Dr. Pound Historical Farmstead provides historical education, a destination point for visitors and a gathering place for the community for the enjoyment and benefit of present and future generations.

Ideally, Durst and the farmstead board would have preferred to keep the festival as a regular event for the community. Durst said organizing the event faced growing difficulty getting permits from the city to hold the event. In 2023, it was clear that the event would need to find a new venue to accommodate the growth. “In the end, our interests (city and promoter) no longer aligned and it was time to find a different venue even if that meant leaving Dripping Springs, which I did not want to do,” Durst said.

City officials confirmed that managing traffic and safety were becoming an issue. Fall events are abundant in Dripping Springs in the months of September and October especially. It is a loss for some in the community, who enjoyed the convenience of such a festival being in town.

Durst wanted to keep the festival in central Texas, so he reached out to several small towns looking for a partner who could accommodate a growing event. The farming community of Uhland was very excited to partner with him and had what Durst needed; lots of open land and no competing events during the fall season.

In Uhland, Durst feels he now has room to attract even larger crowds to his event.'Our team couldn’t be more excited to partner with the City of Uhland, Texas, on this oncein- a-lifetime project,' Durst said For the small town of Uhland, the festival is part of a larger development of its Old Town experience. 'To say that the City of Uhland is excited about all of the phenomenal events and experiences that Old Town Uhland plans to bring out here is an understatement,' said Uhland Mayor Lacee Duke. 'The stars most certainly aligned when Christopher and his team decided to make Uhland home,” he added.

The festival will feature more than 50 attractions over five weekends. The festival grounds are located at 39 Dairy Rd in Uhland., Uhland, and will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 7 pm beginning September 28. Pre-sale tickets will go on sale August 1. General admission is $15 per person, season passes are $75, and VIP tickets are $150. The festival is free for seniors aged 65-plus and children three years old and under. Parking is free, and ridesharing is encouraged. More information about the event visit uhlandfallfest.com The Uhland Fall Fest will take place September 28 through October 27 in Old Town Uhland located at 3 Dairy Rd in Uhland, TX. For more information about the event visit uhlandfallfest.com