Traffic routes changing this year for Mid-Missouri pumpkin festival

New traffic plans are in place this year for Hartsburg’s 24th Pumpkin Festival going on this weekend south of Columbia. Cars will no longer be allowed to go through town, in order to boost pedestrian safety.

The Boone County sheriff’s department is sending drivers along a different route, in order to approach Hartsburg from the south. The main stretch of road, Route A, will be closed to festival traffic.

People can use the new directions following the posted signs. Cars will start at the Highway 63 exit onto Route A, before quickly turning south onto Old Highway 63, which runs parallel to the highway and turns into Mt. Pleasant Road.

Eventually drivers will turn right onto Soft Pit Hill Road, before making another right onto Bush Landing Road, where they will be directed to the parking area.

People who are leaving will head in the other direction, going northwest on River Road, where they hit Route M in Wilton, which will take them back to Highway 63.