New Owner Adds Educational Element to Pumpkin Festival

A change of ownership failed to diminish one of the county’s oldest fall traditions as the 24th annual Pumpkin Patch festival kicked off at Faulkner Farm this weekend.

Its wide fields were again lined with pumpkins--ranging from palm-sized to chair-sized--and large crowds Saturday and Sunday were proof that last year’s sale of the farm to the University of California would not hamper the annual event.

This year’s festival has a new look, however, with a portion of the farm’s 27 acres bustling with additional staffers and dotted with university-inspired educational displays.

“They wanted the public to have some educational value” from the festival, said event manager Karen Schott of Litchfield Farms, the Moorpark-based company coordinating this year’s festival. Among the additions: a world map showing the origins of various commodities, such as wheat and corn, and a farming curriculum suitable for school tours.

Orange County resident Mindy Laven said she was relieved the festival was still taking place. The trek of more than 100 miles from Placentia to Faulkner Farm has become a family tradition.

“All of our friends think we’re crazy,” she said.

Laven’s husband, Greg, said experiencing Faulkner Farm was worth the drive.

“It’s for the family,” he said. “The kids love it.”

This year’s Pumpkin Patch festival is the first since Allan and Linda Ayers sold the historic farm to the University of California Cooperative Extension for $1.5 million. The university, which administers the Hansen Trust, now uses the century-old farm as an educational center.

In addition to the familiar orange and black jack-o’-lantern flag, this year’s festival features live country music, a petting zoo with baby animals hosted by Future Farmers of America, hayrides and an array of vintage tractors.

The atmosphere reminded many pumpkin shoppers of their agricultural roots.

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“We grew up in the country, and it kind of takes you back,” said Mark Pickett, a Ventura resident who said he comes to Faulkner Farm each year with his wife, Jeanne. “I love coming out here.”

But Pickett was attracted by more than just atmosphere. His wheelbarrow, one of dozens winding their way through pumpkin-lined fields, was full of sun-colored gourds.

The biggest pumpkin he selected took three people to lift and nearly filled the wheelbarrow. But it was worth the effort, Pickett said.

“It has to have at least three good sides and it’s got to stand up,” he said, his hand moving across the smooth orange skin.

Rachel Alperstein, 5, picked out her pumpkin with one criterion: size. The perfect pumpkin had to be small enough “so that I could hold it,” she said.

But Rachel said finding the ideal child-size pumpkin was not the most memorable part of the trip.

She reserved that accolade for the small, tented petting zoo in the middle of the pumpkin patch. It was there, Rachel explained with a smile, that she got extremely close to nature. Seems one of the bunnies relieved itself on her.

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Faulkner Farm was not the only place where the bright round fruit popped up over the weekend.

At Stu Miller’s Pumpkin Patch next to the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall, Agoura Hills resident Jennifer Montgomery shopped for the perfect pumpkin with her husband, Dan.

Montgomery, whose first baby is due in two weeks, picked out a pumpkin the size of a tomato.

“This is for the baby,” she said. “When the baby is born right before Halloween, we’ll come back and buy our first real family pumpkin.”

Nearby, 2-year-old Anthony Beinar scampered around the patch poking at the orange gourds, his bright orange hair and freckles blending with the scores of pumpkins.

“He just loves pumpkins,” said his mother, Jennifer Strutt of Topanga Canyon.

“Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread. He loves looking at pumpkins, picking them up,” she said. “We think it’s because he looks like one.”

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Times Community News reporter Pamela J. Johnson contributed to this story.