If you've been waiting for Harvest Moon dates to show up this fall, here's why they never did. On March 10, months before most people were thinking about October, the Sheridan Events committee voted to cancel the 2026 festival. What took its place is spread across the whole month and all over town, and it ends on Main Street on October 31. Every scarecrow vote cast that night also goes toward bringing Harvest Moon back in 2027.
A March vote, made with a grant already in hand
The committee's March 10 minutes list the reasons. Members cited "concerns surrounding the construction on SR 47, finances, and additional concerns," and the motion to cancel passed. Hamilton County Tourism had already awarded the committee $2,500 for Harvest Moon. That grant could only be spent on placemaking elements, not carnival costs, and the minutes note it would have to be declined once the festival was off.
The cancellation came right after the festival's best year in a while. In 2025, Sheridan Events moved Harvest Moon back to Main Street to get local businesses more involved. Ohio Carnival Company came over from out of state with rides and games, and the committee says a new add-on called Scarecrows on Main was one of the most popular parts of the weekend.
The committee formally turned its attention to that add-on at its July 29 meeting, "in place of Harvest Moon 2026." By August 12, Harvest Moon vendors had been told the festival was canceled. The town's website still has an older Harvest Moon event page, but it describes a past year's festival. It has nothing to do with this October.
The scarecrows spread beyond Main Street
The first Scarecrows on Main in 2025 was built around local businesses during the festival. That year's entries came from Sheridan Community Schools, the Sheridan Police Department, Waitt Trucking and Cardinal Parts & Equipment. This year it's open to residents too, and according to a Sheridan Events piece published in The Reporter on October 2, the scarecrows now "extend beyond Main Street, with displays throughout town."
That spread is the real change this year. In past years the festival happened over a weekend in one spot. This year the scarecrows have been up since September 30 and October 1, stay in place through Halloween night, and are scattered all over town. The committee also turned the display into a game for kids:
- Get the map. The committee said a map of every scarecrow location would be available at SheridanEvents.org.
- Find the Blackhawk. This year's theme is the Sheridan Blackhawk, and one is hidden on every scarecrow.
- Claim the prize. Kids who find all of them can pick up a prize at the Sheridan Events trunk during the Main Street Halloween festivities on October 31.
Voting happens that same night, with pocket change. The people's-choice winner gets the Golden Pumpkin, a trophy that passes from one year's winner to the next, along with a check for half of the registration pot. As of October 2, that pot was already over $700. Registration closed back on September 11, and the scarecrows come down November 1 and 2.
October 31, by the clock
All of it comes together on Halloween night. Here's how the evening lines up based on the Town of Sheridan's posted listings:
| Time | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 5:30 p.m. | Parade participants gather; Trunk or Treat vehicles in place | Monon & 2nd Street; gravel lot across from Town Hall |
| 5:45 p.m. | Halloween costume parade | Starts from the Monon & 2nd Street gathering point |
| 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. | Trunk or Treat | Gravel lot across from Town Hall |
| 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. | Trick or Treat Around Town | Townwide |
| During Halloween on Main | Scarecrow voting and Blackhawk prize pickup | Sheridan Events trunk |
Sheridan Main Street, Inc. describes the usual order as a costume parade down Main Street, followed by community members opening up their trunks.
The parade is still being worked out. At its September 22 meeting, the committee talked through a parade along the Monon Trail with jack-o'-lanterns and a decorated golf cart. By October 1, the minutes show Sheridan Events had stepped back from planning the parade, looked at a shorter route, and tabled the item while waiting to hear from Sheridan Main Street, Inc. The town's parade listing still shows the 5:45 p.m. start. If you're bringing costumed kids to line up, it's a good idea to check the town listing and the Sheridan Events Facebook page during Halloween week for the final route.
If you're riding to Main Street instead of driving, the town adopted Ordinance 2026-12 on October 12. It sets rules for bicycles, e-bikes, scooters and other motorized devices on trails, sidewalks and roads, and the full text is linked from the town's notice.
The road behind all of this
SR 47 is the reason for the cancellation, and it's still shaping how people get around town this fall. Phase 3 of the State Road 47 Reconstruction Project started on or after August 10. During this phase, SR 47 is closed to through traffic between Hamilton-Boone County Line Road and State Road 38, and the official detour uses SR 38 and U.S. 421. Mule Barn Road and California Street are closed where they meet SR 47. Local traffic for Sheridan Estates and the businesses there enters and exits from the west side of SR 47, and Maple Run traffic uses Mule Barn Road. The notice says Phase 3 runs through the end of the year, depending on weather.
INDOT's project page lists Phase 3 as active from Mule Barn Road to Biddle Park Drive in summer and fall 2026. The next phase, 4a, is scheduled for spring 2027 at the SR 47 and SR 38 roundabout. So the construction keeps going past this fall.
Harvest Moon isn't the only event the construction has moved. In February, the committee met with Sheridan Community Schools staff to move the 2026 Fourth of July fireworks and festival to the high school "due to construction near Biddle Park." For 2026, the town's two biggest gatherings both ended up somewhere else: one at the high school and one spread out over a month of scarecrows.
Where the pocket change goes
The Reporter piece says outright that this October is a fundraiser. Scarecrows on Main proceeds go straight to free community events in 2027, including Rev'd Up Rides, the Town of Sheridan Fourth of July Celebration and Harvest Moon.
The committee is already planning for the festival's return, and its minutes show where things stand:
- Location. The September 2 recap says the committee is looking at Veterans Park as a possible future home for Harvest Moon.
- Rides. The September 22 minutes say members started talking about a carnival for 2027 and planned to ask carnival companies about the first or second weekend of October 2027.
- Fireworks. At the same meeting, the committee set aside $5,000 for the 2027 fireworks display.
- Timing. The committee's Harvest Moon page says it plans to make the festival bigger in fall 2027, once SR 47 construction is "closer to completion."
If you want a say in those plans, the committee usually meets every other Tuesday at Gosia's Rustic Kitchen, 308 S. Main Street. The café there has been open since January 2026. The meeting schedule changes now and then, and the committee posts updates on Facebook. In the meantime, the Blackhawk hunt and the scarecrow voting both wrap up on Main Street on October 31.
The SR 47 rebuild will shape Sheridan's calendar, traffic and daily routines well into 2027. If you're a Sheridan homeowner wondering how that timeline might affect a future sale or move, Midtown Home Collective follows these local projects closely. Schedule a free consultation and we'll walk you through what's changing near your street.
