Sales at local pumpkin patches not spooked by COVID-19
But tours at Howell pumpkin farm are down by 75 per cent this year
Howell Family Pumpkin Farm is running at about 25 per cent capacity this season, but there are some positives keeping the popular Halloween haunt for families above ground in 2020.
On Thanksgiving weekend, its 2.8-hectare parking lot and most of Holland Road would be swarmed with cars. Often, Niagara Regional Police are in the area to make sure traffic flows smoothly on the holiday.
This year, on Monday, there were about 30 cars in the lot at about noon, with no need for vehicles parking on the road.
The pumpkin patch at the Pelham-Thorold border is adapting to restrictions handed down by the province, resulting in a timed- ticketing schedule through which guests pay for and book time slots at the farm rather than swarming there unannounced.
No more than 100 people are perusing the park at a time, admiring the winding landscape.
Owner Jerry Howell said the number of people visiting this season is down because of protocols in place, but also because of fear that novel coronavirus is on its way to a second wave in Niagara.
“People are just wary about coming out,” he said.
An outdoor beer and wine garden, which falls under the province’s patio guidelines, is allowing people to have fun at Howell’s.
“It’s saving us,” he said, adding it’s a separate source of income for the farm.
Howell’s is also offering fire pits that can be rented for twohour intervals on weekend evenings.
Howell said he has about 40 people on the job, a considerable reduction from the 130 he employed this time last year.
A second reality of the pandemic that appears to be taking place is more pumpkins are being sold this Halloween.
Howell didn’t have exact numbers but estimated sales are on pace to be higher than they were in 2019.
He attributed this to everybody being “stuck at home” and perhaps they are putting a little more time and effort into decorating their residences for Halloween.
Features at Howell’s cancelled by the pandemic include a straw jump barn, corn pit, pumpkin and dinosaur show, and pig races.
Howell said “being on the edge of closing” due to rising COVID-19 cases and months of uncertainty early in the pandemic have been major stress factors.
“We have one month to make our entire year’s income,” he said.
At Warner Ranch and Pumpkin Farm in southwest Niagara Falls, a lineup formed Monday not seen in 25 years, said owner Donna Warner.
With a limit of 100 people allowed throughout the 70-hectare property, it created a bit of congestion.
“Everybody came, but nobody left,” she quipped. “People wanted to stay, and didn’t want to be in the house.”
Navigating around rules and what to expect as things change daily with COVID-19 has been “challenging, to say the least,” she said.
A two-hectare corn maze remains a popular attraction, one of many features that Warner said is operating without people getting too close.
“Everybody is spread out and we’re limiting people everywhere.”
Admission to Warner’s is free. Like Howell, Warner, too, is seeing an escalation in pumpkin sales this year.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” she said, noting the cancellation of school trips for which students would each sent home with a pumpkin could be a factor.
“The families are now coming here and picking several out,” she said.