PUMPKIN PATCH

Last year the pumpkins arrived on Saturday, October 4^th at 10am. A record 61 people showed up to help unload and count the pumpkins and we celebrated with homemade pizza afterwards (thank you Larry Bobb!). We received a great crop of pumpkins with hardly any spoilage, and we got some huge pumpkins! We unloaded over 2,582 bulk pumpkins plus several hundred of the mini pumpkins as well as Indian corn and gourds. In addition to traditional orange, we received some bulk pumpkins that were red, white and green, and some cool-looking warty pumpkins (they make great scary monsters!)

We had a ton of groups go through the Patch last year from schools, childcares, nursing homes and Girl Scouts. When they schedule a visit at the Patch, they receive a small pumpkin, a picture and get to enjoy a hayride, face-painting and storytelling. For adults, there is the option of making a special craft. A record 900 people went through the Patch last year! We received lots of compliments about changing the hayride route, which ran through the woods on the back of the property.

Each Saturday we hosted a mini-festival for the community between noon and 2pm, with opportunities for hayrides, face-painting, story-telling and several special picture spots. And we hosted a Fall Festival on Saturday, October 25th, with a wonderful BBQ Dinner, special entertainment and several craft booths.

Our Patch volunteers also received a “uniform” to wear – bright orange shirts that said “Pumpkin Patrol” on the back. Many thanks to Errick and Stacee Reveron for making all of the shirts!

Thankfully with all of that stock, general sales at the Patch have gone better than ever! We broke our sales record from last year! At close of business on Friday, October 31^st, our gross pumpkin sales were $16,210.01! This makes our church profit from pumpkin sales $5,397.94 and we earned an additional $1,634.23 from the pictures, craft tables, fall festival and donations. This is by far our best Pumpkin Patch season ever in the church’s 21 year history of the Pumpkin Patch!

Our 2009 Pumpkin Patch will begin with the arrival of the Pumpkins on October 3. It will run each day throughout October Sundays, 12:00pm-5:00pm, Monday through Saturday, 10:00am-6:00pm. The last week of October will have extended hours, 10:00am-7:30pm.

SPECIAL THANKS

We would like to thank our Patch Coordinators, Wendy Bath and Shirley Clem for all of the great leadership they have provided. And we would also like to thank the many other volunteers who have made this year’s Patch such a tremendous success! - Pastor Debbie, Daryl and Parker Allen; Vera Amburgy; Sheri and Rich Angwin; Grady Aplin; Ashley Bache; Helen Barnes; Jim Bath; Tom and Harry Benish; Jinny Berryhill; Larry Bobb; Mike Bolinger; Trill Boyer; Crystal and Rachel Bradley; Terry and Carol Brinker; Joey and Jean Buffkin; Lee and Margy Byers; Dan Chambers; Arliene Chapman; Lynn Clements; Joan Cornell; Marion Covert; Pete and June Culmo; Doug and Marlene Dan; Scott, Debra, Brittany and Christopher Davies; Bill and Bev DeLuca; Florence Dickinson; Virginia Domes; Skip Drury; Vivian Edwards; Bill Erisman; Jack Erisman; Joe, Tammie, Ashley and Ryan Foster; Brenda Freeman; Libby Fuller; Margaret Fry; Shawn Gall; Sherry, Tamara and Katie Gemberling; Barbara Glover; James Gossett; Barbara Hamby;

David Hardy; Delores Hazelton; Tom, Ann and Tabitha Ison; Jean Jackson; Milly Jennings; Carol Johnson; Irene and Michael Klotz; Char Kokesch; Jim Kramer; Jill Krumeich; Jack Lauer; Gerri Loy; Nancy and Richard Malloy; Carlos and Nadia Mantilla;

Ethel Millington; Earl Million; Jeanette Morris; Bob Neimann; Shawn Nightengale; Tom and Varee O’Shaughnessy; Dorothy Patten;

Sue Peak; Nancy Renewski; Leslie and Rael Raskovich; Errick and Stacee Reveron; Doris Russell; Mary Schanken; Amber Schroder;

Diane Sye; Carol Sheldon; Brenda, Jeff and Tyler Short; Karen and Butch Shurtz; Becky Tate; Darin Tate; Joyce and Jack Taylor; Duke Tucker; Joan Walters; Vi Warner; Pam and Rob Walton; Gary and Maria Willette; Pat Williams; Linda Wood and Marion Wright.