Patch will open, thank gourd
McCall’s Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty to operate at 25 percent capacity starting Saturday
COVID-19 has deprived people of many things, but one of New Mexico’s most famous pumpkin patches — and the fun that comes with it — appears to have survived. McCall’s Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty, which for years has been a fall favorite for those who came to revel in Halloween themes over its 92 acres, seemed on the verge of irrelevance with novel coronavirus-related closures and limitations.
But when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced an easing of heath restrictions last week, owners Kevin and Kirsten McCall began readying their attraction for business — though they are not sure the haunted barn and maze will be open for those who like to be terrified.
McCall’s opens at 10 a.m. Saturday for five weekends of what longtime office manager Kathy Stableford called “a family-friendly amusement park where people can come and do a lot of different things.”
Some of those offerings will be limited because of health restrictions. On hold are the pig races, the princess tea parties and bouncy houses.
“It’s 2020, everything feels somewhat different, but the great thing about this place is that you can spread out,” Kirsten McCall said as she and her husband worked to prepare the patch for Saturday’s opening.
She later added: “The lines might be a little slower because you have to wait for the staff to clean each thing, but I hope it feels almost the same because there haven’t been a lot of good family activities to do in a long time.”
In 2019 County Living magazine ranked McCall’s, which opened in the late 1990s, as the seventh-best pumpkin patch in the country.
The McCalls said they are happy to have the chance to operate this year, since much of their income derives from the deluge of visitors who usually descend upon the site in the weeks leading up to Halloween — particularly from the haunted maze and haunted barn.
Still, attendance will be limited to 25 percent of normal capacity, as per state guidelines, and patrons must wear masks and maintain social distancing. As of Wednesday, the McCalls were waiting to see if they will get approval to operate the haunted barn, haunted maze or hay rides to the pumpkin patch.
The McCalls said they are are looking for other ways to transport people from the entryway to the
pumpkin patch — a distance of at least a half-mile. Each hay ride trailer can typically transport 75 people. If the McCalls can’t find a way to transport people safely, visitors may have to walk.
“But that’s not ideal,” Kirsten McCall said. Kevin McCall said the couple have experienced many sleepless nights waiting to see if they could even open this year.
“We put a lot of work into just getting open and we were pleased to see that we did get some love from the Governor’s Office,” he said.
In the past, Stableford said, the farm has drawn up to 9,000 visitors in a single day.
“We have people who have been coming here for years and who come back year after year,” she said.
One of those people is Santa Fean Elizabeth Sanchez, who once wrote that a visit to the pumpkin patch at Halloween is filled with “an arena of shrieks and surprises best suited for an older crowd with a strong stomach.”
Sanchez said she has been going to McCall’s since her elementary school days, when she would pick pumpkins in autumn. Later she graduated to an age where she could explore the haunted barn and maze.
“I’m happy to hear they are opening because it’s been a difficult year,” she said. “And I think it’ll offer something positive coming off of that difficult year.”