Normally, the Jesse Lee Pumpkin Patch comes to life when truckloads of these freshly harvested gourds roll in from our mission partners’ Navajo Indian farms and volunteers unload the trucks bucket-brigade style, passing the pumpkins from one person to another until the field is full and the truck is empty. There is no way to safely unload the trucks and adhere to CDC social distancing guidelines so it looked like the Jesse Lee Pumpkin Patch would have to be canceled this year.
However, dedicated members of Jesse Lee didn’t want to abandon this critical fundraiser when our Navajo mission partners need it the most. Instead, they got creative and came up with a plan for a modified pumpkin patch that lets Jesse Lee keep this fundraiser alive.
Instead of fresh pumpkins, we are creating ‘homemade’ ones out of plywood pumpkin cutouts that will be painted orange and attached to wooden stakes and “planted” where the pumpkin patch is set up every year at the corner of King Lane and Main Street in Ridgefield.
On the weekends of October 17-18 and 24-25, people can purchase these ‘homemade’ pumpkins ($10 for a small one, $20 for a medium pumpkin and $30 for a large one) and decorate them onsite at decorating stations in the Jesse Lee pumpkin patch or they can decorate them at home. For those who want to compete in the “Best Pumpkin of the Homemade Patch Contest,” they can enter their pumpkin in the contest (no additional charge) and replant their work of art in the section of the patch reserved for contestants . The best pumpkin will be selected on Sunday, October 25th at 3:00 p.m. The pumpkins will remain on display for Ridgefielders to enjoy through Halloween.
Please mark your calendars and check our website at jesseleechurch.com for more details to come.