Pumpkin Patch Fun
If you missed the Stockton Pumpkin Patch this year on the first weekend of October, then you missed out on a lot of good old family fun! I am probably the event’s number one cheerleader since you all know how much I LOVE Fall, so I am going to brag it up!
I feel like the event grows and evolves every year with new games added and others tweeked to make them more family friendly.
Kuddos to Chamber Director Ravin States Leake and Will Leake for all the hard work they did that went into organizing the event. Ravin also had some wickedly awesome volunteers (you know who you all are) who helped set up and take down the games, displays, etc. And that includes the help of the Stockton students who uncrated the pumpkins!
The vendors this year were spooktacular with free sno cones, popcorn and cotton candy to be had or hot cocoa and apple cider for a donation. Even though the weather was a little on the warm (hot) side, someone told me it didn’t matter that the drinks and soups were hot because it was all about the fall experience. And who knows, next year the weather might be in the 50s or 60s instead of the high 80s! We will just go with the flow and the rise and fall of the mercury.
There were also mums, t-shirts, crafts, gnomes, and face painting on hand that made for a fun atmosphere. And talk about pumpkins! The patch area was a Charlie Brown dream.
The two organizations that covered the soup lunchtime had homemade soups that people were talking about before and after the event. Green bean dumpling and white chicken chili were THE talk throughout the weekend, and of course, it goes without saying, the s’mores and hot dogs cooked over an open fire pit were pretty tasty.
And, as a last minute bit of fun, a few straw bales had fallen apart so an instant straw dig was set up for the kids and grownups!
The music was a mashup of Halloween spooky and added to the fall and Halloween atmosphere.
This year was the first ever pumpkin pie eating contest, and I will give props to each one of the guys who entered or were coerced into being a contestant! There will be some modifications for next year’s event, so come back for a second round!
Plus, this has to be said: there was a pumpkin-decorating contest, and for the first five minutes I was winning!! Of course, I was the only contestant for those five minutes. The winners did a great job and I can’t wait to see what devilishly fun designs the contestants come up with for next year’s contest!
All in all, it was a perfect weekend and we are already planning for next year! And FYI: we can always use more pumpkin- loving volunteers.
