MAIN STREET PUMPKIN DAY

The story of the O.W.L. Society is fully documented elsewhere, so here, I'll focus on what’s most relevant to the creation of Main Street Pumpkin Day. Since 2017, I’ve been part of a community organizing meetups to do nerdy sh*t in SoCal—but not at Disneyland. This hardly makes sense, considering there are few fandoms more passionate than Disney fans. Plus, I grew up just a few towns over from Disneyland, so I’m very familiar with the park—and I live even closer now. In fact, my high school marching band performed in parades there twice a year. However, for most of my adult life, I rarely had the money to go.

​

Fast forward to January 2022, when my mom passed away. She lived her entire life no more than 50 miles from the park and was a lifelong Disney fan who absolutely loved Disneyland. Unlike me, she thrived on being out and about, doing things instead of staying cozied up at home. That November, I bought my first Disney pass in almost two decades and was quickly introduced to fan-organized, unofficial theme days at the park—not just Dapper Day, which is big enough to host an entire expo, but also Adventureland Day, Mermaids Day, Bats Day in the Fun Park®, and my personal favorite, Villains Day.

​

In fact, Janna, also known as Villain Mistress and the creator of Villains Day, gave me the courage to start Main Street Pumpkin Day. Unlike Bats Day, which has been running since the ’90s, Villains Day doesn’t have a 25-year history. Nor does it have the resources that some of the other groups have because they're run by people whose day jobs are their creative businesses. Yet Villains Day remains my favorite themed day. They’re all great, but Villains Day left me thinking, “Yes! This is exactly how I wanted to spend my day!”

​

I was especially primed for inspiration because my mom was, above all, an entrepreneur. She started her own business from scratch and always said, “Just go do it” about anything and everything. Because of her, I had the courage to start a kids’ entertainment business when I was in college. Now, even though I have an amazing day job that pays my bills, I still side hustle by making handcrafted accessories. Why? Because I love making them. So, I took a page from my mom’s playbook and just went ahead and did it!

In a similar way, when I’m at Disneyland, I feel close to my mom. Main Street Pumpkin Day is one more way to honor her spirit and just get out there and do something.

​

Signed,
JoJo Mrgich
Founder of O.W.L. Society & Main Street Pumpkin Day