Traffic Issues With Southington Apple Festival: What You Need To Know

SOUTHINGTON, CT — It's easily Southington's biggest civic celebration and the whole community, even those outside of town, are invited.

But before the apples are picked, sliced, diced and made into delicious edibles, there are some items of traffic business to be noted due to the 2023 Southington Apple Harvest Festival.

Tuesday morning, the Southington Police Department unveiled a litany of traffic restrictions, road closures and no parking alerts associated with the event, which starts Friday, Sept. 29, and lasts until Sunday, Oct. 1, during the event's first weekend.

Then, the festival kicks off for a second weekend Oct. 6-8, with all events taking place in the Southington Town Center Green area.

According to the Southington Police Department, the traffic impacts associated with the celebration:

• From Friday, Sept. 29, through Sunday, Oct. 1, and from Friday, Oct. 6, to Sunday, Oct. 8, the following streets will have "no parking" on either side of the road: Merrell Ave.; Oak St.; Academy Ln.; Academy St.; North Liberty St.; Vermont Ave.; Vermont Terr.; High St.; Hobart St.; Center St.; Center Pl.; Center Crt.; Columbus Ave.; Eden Ave.; Liberty St.; Chestnut St.; Mill St. (North Main St. to Water St.); Berlin Ave. (Main St; to Highwood Ave.); North Main St. (Center St. to Mill St.); West Center St. (Summer St. to Howard Ave.); and Woodruff St. (Berlin Ave. to Pleasant St.)

• One of the festival's signature events is the annual Apple Festival Parade, which is Sunday, Oct. 1 (rain date of Oct. 8).

This will require the following streets to have "no parking" signs as well, police said.

They are Summer St.; Cowles Ave.; Elm St.; Church St.; Beecher St.; Matthews St.; Eden Pl.; West Main St.; Bristol St.; Knowles Ave.; Chestnut St.; S. Center St.; Water St.; Main St.; Speechley Ave.; and Prospect St. (West St. to Summer St.).

Meanwhile, access to Cowles Ave., Prospect St., Summer St. and Elm St. will be shut down at 11 a.m. on the day of the parade.

The listed streets will be under these special parking restrictions from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the day of the parade, police said.

All violators will be subject to a $35 fine and/or towing of the vehicle.

• The other big event of the festival is the annual fireworks display, which this year is on Saturday, Sept. 30.

Police said the fireworks display will be set off from the Southington Dog Park located on Mill Street on Saturday (with a rain date of Saturday, Oct. 7).

According to police, the section of Mill Street between North Main Street (Route 10) and Water Street will be blocked off starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday and reopening at 11 p.m. the same day.
This will allow for a safety zone and traffic will be detoured around the Mill Street closure.

The dog park will be closed to the public from noon on Saturday and it will reopen at noon on Sunday.

These closures will be in effect on Oct. 7-8 if the rain date is implemented.

For current information regarding the 2023 Apple Harvest Festival, including festival hours, parking restrictions and detour information, visit this link.