'Pumpkin Junction' Awaiting Delivery

The pumpkins are on their way. They really are.

“We expect them to arrive sometime Thursday or Friday morning,” said Kerri Payne, chairwoman for the annual Pumpkin Junction at St. John’s Episcopal Church on County Road.

Usually the pumpkins are here by now, Payne said said, but the Navajo Indian reservation that supplies them for the church had some shipping problems.

“But they are on their way,” she said.

So, expect the lawn in front of the “Red Church” on County Road to turn into a sea of orange in a day or two. There will be thousands of pumpkins as far as you can see up the hill.

The orange gourds will be on sale every day until Halloween from 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday and from 9 am to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Pumpkin Junction started out as a fundraiser five years ago to benefit various church programs. But it has turned into a community event that people anticipate every year, Payne said.

A festival will officially kick off the pumpkin sale this Saturday, Oct. 1, from 10 am to 4 pm. Rain date for the festival is is Oct. 8.

Approximately 30 crafters will be offering home goods and crafts. There will be plenty of breakfast and lunch food and baked goods on sale, face painting, a bungee trampoline for kids from 30 to 150 pounds, a fun house and pony rides, said Payne.

A children’s singer, Lindsay Meehan, also will perform, she said. And a local nursery will be selling mums.

Of course, Pumpkin Junction is all about selling pumpkins, which range in price and size from 25 cents for the ones you can fit in the palm of your hand to about $30 for the ones you need a cart to move around.

“The kids love to pick out a pumpkin and bring it to the sizing table,” Payne said. “We have about five different sizes to match up.”

Look for the little red wagons near the sizing table to cart around your pumpkins if you pick one that is too big to carry to your car.

How does the congregation keep the pumpkins from spoiling, especially with rainy weather?

“We roll the pumpkins about every two days,” Payne said. “It’s quite a job. And it takes quite a few volunteers."

The church also has never had much of a problem with pumpkins being smashed or stolen, she said.

“I suppose a couple of pumpkins could disappear out of so many pumpkins,” she said. “Who would know? But the people who do the rolling get to know their pumpkins.”

The church address is 191 County Road if you need some help finding your way to the pumpkin patch.