Pumpkinfest… 28 years ago
By Submitted to Corner Post
The idea of a fundraiser for the Pony Express Museum, in St. Joseph, Missouri, was a street dance and BBQ food cooked by Dick DeShon. Then, Kathy Bahner said, “Let’s build a Pumpkin Mountain and carve logo pumpkins with lights. Sell them for $250.00. Dick wondered, will it work? Yes!
Dick met a professor at Missouri Western State University who knew how to raise pumpkins, so they did. The next year he returned home and told Dick how to raise the pumpkins. One day Dick, on his farm, thought, “I should mow the weeds around the pumpkin patch.” The next day the grasshoppers ate all the pumpkins, I mean all of them. After this, Rick and Jenny Tudor, who live on a farm in St. Joseph, dedicated part of their land to raise the pumpkins for the Pumpkinfest for 25 years. They had local students harvest the fields for years.
Today we still celebrate the fall season and enjoy the pumpkin harvest with Schweizer Orchards, in Agency, Missouri. We are so thankful for our past Pumpkinfest history and hope you come to our 28th year on October 4, 5 and 6, 2024, in Patee Park. Food and craft vendors, live entertainers, local talent, a children’s tent, High Ball Rides for all ages, balloon artist and the famous “Children’s Shoppe” will adorn our Festival in 2024. The founders of this event are so proud of its success and the many Pumpkinfest chairs over the years. Help us carry on this “Blessed Tradition in the Fall”.
