The Mycenaean

A pumpkin patch off Leesville Road is now open along with many other fall festivities in North Carolina. (Photo Courtesy of Alexis Mast)

Despite Covid-19 and weather patterns, fall’s start date is September 22, and North Carolinians are ignorant of how the transition from long, warm days to colder, socially distant days will go.

Fall events like the NC State Fair, pumpkin patches, haunted forests, and football season tend to soften the blow when summer comes to end, and lives return to normal. Hannah Mosakevich, a sophomore at Leesville Road High School wrote via text message “all the fall activities are what motivate me to get through a whole week.” Due to Covid-19, what will this fall have to offer us is a question that lingers amongst many communities in North Carolina.

On behalf of the NC State Fair, 2020 is the first year since World War II that it’s been canceled. Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler announced the fair’s cancellation July 29, via a live-streamed broadcast. Troxler explained that the junior livestock and horses shows, as well as drive-thru fair food events, can still be expected to happen, but “at the end of the day, it’s the only logical decision that we could make.”

In regards to haunted forests and seasonal festivities, as of the latest updates, the events are still planned to happen and with minimal restrictions. The highly awaited annual Panic Point is still planned to happen from September 25 until November 7 according to the Panic Point website. 

Other events like pumpkin patches and corn mazes are still planned to open but with slight restrictions and constantly updated changes based upon Covid-19 trends in North Carolina. 

“Many farms, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and Haunted Houses are trying to cope with rapidly changing state COVID requirements: ALWAYS see their own website, Facebook page or call them before you go,” said the 2020 North Carolina Pumpkin Patches And More.org.

Meanwhile, the temperature is dropping and at a rapid pace in North Carolina. Just last week on September 14 in Raleigh, the high was eighty-five degrees. 

On Monday, September 21, the high was sixty-four degrees and the low was forty-eight degrees. Though the time doesn’t change until November 1, the shorter, colder days are already upon North Carolina.

With the Coronavirus starting at the beginning of the warmer months, the colder, highly awaited months that are to come in North Carolina are anticipated to be different than past years.