I'm not sure why your post was moved because the passholder seating did NOT require a dining reservation. You just showed up and got a reserved seat ticket earlier in the day - no dining required - like at previous festivals. We did the same kind of thing back at the
Festival of the Arts.
That said, it appears it did end on Sept 30. I am on a passholder FB group and several people mentioned stopping by for the ticket in the last couple of days and they were informed it ended on the 30th. I'm guessing Sept is lower crowds and they were trying to entice passholders to brave the heat?