Multiple NPCs??? That's awesome to hear :o (+ it's a carnival :D)
I understand better why this took so much time, and I really think it'd be a good thing to tell us that the scope of an event is bigger than the previous ones so it'll take more time to create, instead of saying nothing and it being so so late, even more than what we were told (+ miscalculation/unexpected events happens too and it's okay/natural so really we can understand)
I really don't mind that it's not winter anymore (for a good portion of the userbase), I just hope we'll have enough time/currency to get every new items and pets (even some extras for more pets if we want) since we won't have the whole season this year, but this really sound super neat! I'm excited :D