The great pumpkin search
- Share via
Robert Chacon
Shoppers looking for the perfect pumpkin on which to carve frightful
faces and creepy countenances have been out in force in the days
leading up to Halloween, as evidenced by brisk sales at local pumpkin
patches.
By 1 p.m. Wednesday, the YMCA Pumpkin Patch in Glendale had sold
more than 100 pumpkins, cashier Mark Cesena said. Sales were steady
all day, and he expected the usual evening rush of people shopping
after work.
Pumpkin purchasers weighed their choices by a variety of criteria,
including size, color and shape.
Steve and Sam Garrett drove from Atwater Village to the Glendale
YMCA Pumpkin Patch on the corner of Brand Boulevard and Colorado
Street. Steve wanted a long skinny pumpkin, while Sam searched for a
short, fat one.
“We want to make Halloween fun for the kids of our neighborhood,”
Steve said.
Pumpkin prices ranged from $1 to $25, and some even sold for more
than $100.
At the Ron Smith Pumpkin Patch in La Crescenta, a customer paid
$125 for a 145-pound pumpkin, pumpkin purveyor Meghan Conway said.
Not everyone visiting a patch wanted to buy a pumpkin. Chizuko and
Richard Petersen took their daughter, 7-month-old Amanda, to another
La Crescenta patch to take photos of her in her Halloween costume.
She was dressed as a peacock.
“I’m making a calendar of her first year,” Chizuko said.
Several families come each day to take photos of their children
standing next to the patch, cashier Rebecca Belmonte said. She had
sold about 200 pumpkins by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Virgil’s Hardware in Glendale had the least expensive pumpkins,
all at less than $6.
Children at the pumpkin patches were more excited than their
parents.
“We do this for our daughter so hopefully she’ll continue this
tradition with her kids when she grows up,” said Noe Patino, as her
3-year-old daughter, Lauren, ran around piles of pumpkins, asking
that her father buy each one.
*
IF YOU GO
Pumpkin patches are at the following locations, as well as other
sites throughout the city:
GLENDALE
* YMCA Pumpkin Patch, 238 S. Brand Blvd.
* Virgil’s Hardware, 520 N. Glendale Ave.
LA CRESCENTA
* Ron Smith Pumpkin Patch, 3023 Foothill Blvd.
* Pumpkin Patch, 2413 Foothill Blvd.