(Seguin) — A seasonal favorite has returned to the First United Methodist Church. However this year, the sea of orange has a silver lining. That’s because this year marks the 25th year anniversary for the FUMC Pumpkin Patch. A total of 3,000 pumpkins of varying shapes and sizes and even colors have returned to the lawn of the local church located on North Austin Street.
Coordinating this year’s 25th annual pumpkin crop are Co-Chairs Barbara Vinson and Bill Hughson. Vinson says for many residents, a trip to the pumpkin patch at FUMC has become a long standing tradition — welcoming visitors from all over and all for a good cause.
“As you walk up to the pumpkin patch, you will be met by the Scarecrow and it says ‘Happy 25th Year’ and we have people that come in and go ‘gosh, I went when I was a child and I just loved it and have pictures and memories and now, I’m bringing my child to have the same memories and of course, people can buy a pumpkin anywhere, a grocery store, anywhere else and are ours maybe a little more? ‘Yes’ but we get ours from a (Native) Indian reservation and it is a win-win situation because they bring the pumpkins. They tell us the price. We set the price and the more we sell, the more percentage we get and the more they get and we have 20 different missions that we have chosen that we think are valuable to the community and so when a volunteer works, they write down how many hours they’ve worked and when the month is over, our secretary, Bonnie Dixon adds up how much we’ve made, the percentage we get and she equates hours of volunteers to money and whatever mission they’ve helped, that money goes to that mission,” said Vinson.
Vinson says the pumpkins arrived in Seguin on Saturday after traveling in from Farmington, New Mexico. She says thanks to creative minds and a dedicated group of volunteers, the patch offers something new and different each year.
“We just continue to add things to it. We add things to it every year and Vicki Spradling who had chaired it before, we now gave her carte blanche. She’s no creative to add some things, maybe little decorations or whatever. So she’s in that capacity in building and we’ve got some benches where there used to be bales of hay and she just adds to the signs and of course, we started taking credit cards last year and now, that will be a big thing for us. We sell t-shirts and people come in the patch and take pictures and we just decorate it better I think. We add new decorations,” said Vinson.
The pumpkin patch, however, is more than just a place to buy pumpkins. She says it’s place to learn and have fun.
“We sell pumpkins all kinds. We have gourds. We have little pumpkins for a $1. We have white pumpkins. We have Cinderella pumpkins, the regular traditional orange pumpkins so kids can come out with their family and buy. People come out and get their picture made and also, we do schools. Elementary schools come and they come through and we set them up during the week and they do a science activity all about pumpkins outside. You sit on the benches. How you weigh pumpkins (and) you put a pumpkin in water. What pumpkin seeds do? Then, they go inside and they have storytelling about pumpkins. We have scavenger hunts for them. So, it’s a big huge tradition for a lot of the schools and then, a lot of the younger kids come through and they buy a pumpkin for a dollar so they give their little dollar to us and get a little pumpkin. It’s just a whole lot of fun. The whole community is involved,” said Vinson.
Vinson is also inviting families to mark their calendars for at least two special events happening at the patch this year. They include the Blessing of the Animals on Saturday Oct. 19 and Hayrides on Saturday, Oct. 26.
The Pumpkin Patch, which is located at the corner of North Austin and College streets, will be open through Thursday, Oct. 31. The patch is open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and from noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays.