Smashing Pumpkins

George Perry & Sons in Manteca, a big pumpkin grower and distributor, reports that it was a good year for the fruit. Thanks to a virus-free growing season marred only by a little excess heat, “we put a lot of punkins into the L.A. area,” said George Perry, 78.

“Halloween has become a big deal,” Perry said. Shoppers now tend to buy several pumpkins for decorating, and that has been a boon to growers in the Golden State, second only to Illinois in production.

Perry said big food chains that years ago ordered 44 loads of pumpkins now request about 100 loads. California’s 1996 crop was more than 80,000 tons.

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Martha Groves can be reached by e-mail at martha.groves@latimes.com or by fax at (213) 473-2480.