2024 Reflections by Melanie Smith

We were just starting to unload 735 pumpkins for our church’s first ever Pumpkin Patch when Pastor Heidi spilled the beans to my husband. “Your wife has some wacky ideas!”

“Oh, this was Melanie’s idea? I’m glad I didn’t ask ‘who’s bright idea was this’ when she was telling me about it!” They both laughed as I said, “What did I get ourselves into?”

But you know what? This wacky idea turned out pretty OK! What was it like? Here are a just a few of our pumpkin patch memories.

On Sunday, October 13, a group of about 30 people (I think? I didn’t stop to count) gathered on Stadium Drive to transform our church’s front yard into a place for friends and families to gather in community and celebrate the beauty of autumn.

What’s it like to unload 735 pumpkins from a semi-truck? It’s a lot of work – and a lot of fun! As this was our first pumpkin patch, we weren’t exactly sure what 33% of a semi-load of pumpkins would look like or how to prepare. As the delivery truck’s last stop, all of the vegetables in the trailer were our responsibility. It was a mountain of pumpkins.

Two rows of volunteers formed inside the truck to pass the pumpkins along to volunteers outside the truck. Pumpkins were loaded into wheelbarrows and were passed from one person to another – fire brigade style. By the time the truck was empty, we were happy and sweaty.

An unexpected obstacle? Gravity! When I saw the first pumpkin roll down the hill and into the street my heart skipped a beat! Thankfully, no harm was done. After that our pumpkin placement became more strategic – and stationary!

There was a real joyfulness to our work. It was fun to work with folks I hadn’t seen in a long time – and with others I was meeting for the first time. We had volunteers from Hudson Schneider’s gymnastics team, family members, folks who grew up in the church but hadn’t been coming regularly, and a new friend visiting from Florida – having been displaced by a hurricane.

Soon the church yard was filled with orange and white and yellow and green (and many hues in between) pumpkins – and we welcomed the community into the church yard! We were open every day from 11 – 7 through October 31.

Kim Petro was at the Pumpkin Patch when a wedding party came to take photos at the gazebo. When they looked her way, she said, “Come on over!” The groom lifted his bride high in the air and had a beautiful picture taken under our pumpkin patch lights. As they left, Kim yelled, “Have a happy life!”

One visitor explained that she lives in Florida. It had been a long, long time since she had experienced autumn, and even longer since she had visited a pumpkin patch. It brought her and her friend a lot of joy.

A daily dog walker stopped by the patch and said, “Can I ask you a question? Have any pumpkins been stolen?” When she learned that the answer was no, she smiled and said, “That makes me so happy about my community.”

One of Kristi Eberhardt’s favorite memories came at the end of the day when a mom and her teenage son visited the patch. This boy had outgrown the Saturday afternoon pumpkin patch/cider/hay ride days, and his mother was so happy to have the opportunity to experience this tradition in a new way with her son. 

Take a moment to imagine Jennifer & Peyton Schneider picking up a variety of pumpkins and carrying them curbside so a woman who just had hip surgery could shop. That might not happen at another pumpkin patch. As she went home with her pumpkins, that lady knew she was cared for!

A nurse from the Oakes came to the patch when Beth Smith was working and bought 200 little pumpkins. Each patient at the rehabilitation center was given a cheerful little pumpkin from our church yard.

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in the patch when – all of a sudden – 10 cars pulled up and parked across the street by the gazebo.  Gary Traicoff said, “At first, I thought that this was going to be great. A lot of customers!  But instead of coming to the pumpkin patch, they all headed over to the gazebo. About 15 minutes later, I see someone roll out a white carpet. Wedding music started and the bride almost popped out of nowhere.  There was so much joy and excitement from the young couple and their party.  As soon as they came, they were gone!” Gary had just witnessed a pop up wedding!

Gary also met a couple who live down the street from church. They were out walking their dog and struck up a conversation where Gary learned that they are filmmakers who would soon leave for Ethiopia to work on a documentary about affordable housing in partnership with a charity.  What a wonderful opportunity to get to know our neighbors.

Father Ryan from St. Basil Catholic Church called the church office to say that our pumpkin patch was a wonderful thing on the square, and that he had directed people to come take photos and get pumpkins. Young Henry, a third grader, told Linda Crouch that every time he drove by on his school bus and saw the patch, he felt SO HAPPY.

The day after Halloween, some people stopped by to ask if we had any pie pumpkins left. They were making pumpkin rolls. I told them to take a look around. “It’s like an Easter egg hunt – but in the fall, and with pumpkins!” they said.

The baker said “Your church is so beautiful” and I asked if I could show her around. As we walked, she said that she had noticed the rainbow on our sign. “I was raised in a different religious tradition, but have been looking for a church that’s more inclusive. My daughters have been asking me about God. Do you have anything with your service times on it? I’d like to bring them here some Sunday.”

One day, as Anthy was preparing the sales report, they saw the familiar name of a friend and gave her a call. “You should have stopped to say ‘hello’ when you came to the pumpkin patch.”

“Wait – that’s your church?” She had no idea Anthy worked here and had stopped by not knowing anything about our church. When she paid for her pumpkins, she asked what the sale funded. Having been hurt by a church in the past she wasn’t sure that she wanted to give money to another. But, when she went to our website and checked us out and read about our values, she said, “This is a church I can support!”

Oh, and I almost forgot to say that we also raised nearly $4,000 to help offset our 2024 budget gap. That’s important, yes. But the new ways we built community? That’s priceless!

These are just a few of our pumpkin patch memories. What are yours?