Posing for family photos on the haystacks or in front of piles of pumpkins is a popular pastime for visitors to the Boca Pumpkin Patch Festival in Mizner Park. Photo provided
By Faran Fagen and Janis Fontaine
If you’re looking to add some thrill to your pumpkin-seeking this month, you won’t need to go far.
First up, the Boca Pumpkin Patch Festival returns to the Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, with an extension to three days and the addition of timed sessions for attendees.
This seasonal event features a giant pumpkin patch in the center of all the action with more than 2,500 pumpkins and a carnival for all ages.
“We’re thrilled to extend the Boca Pumpkin Patch Festival to three days this year,” said Vanessa Goodis, festival executive producer. “And we’re really excited about our new timed sessions.”
Pumpkin enthusiasts can choose among these ticket options:
• Oct. 13 from 4 to 9 p.m.
• Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 4 to 9 p.m.
• Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
General admission is $27.50 per person for those ages 3 years and up, and includes unlimited carnival rides, a kiddie cornstalk maze, multiple fall photo vignettes, a scarecrow dress-up village, and sponsor giveaways.
Admission is free for children under 3. Tickets must be purchased in advance at www.bocapumpkinpatch.com. Attendees must show proof of purchase at the gate via personal device or printout.
The festival will limit attendance at each session to allow guests to immerse themselves in the festivities without overcrowding.
For an additional cost, attendees can pick and decorate the perfect pumpkin in the patch and enjoy the Pumpkin Food Court. Adults can also partake in pumpkin-inspired craft cocktails at the Pumpkin Beer Garden.
The festival is a production of Promo Moxie Inc., organizer of the nationally recognized Coconut Grove Pumpkin Patch Festival.
Cason’s Pumpkin Patch
The annual Pumpkin Patch at Cason United Methodist Church in Delray Beach has become a family tradition and a sure sign of fall in a county where the leaves don’t change color.
Hundreds of orange orbs of all sizes get delivered to the church parking lot at the corner of North Swinton Avenue and Lake Ida Road on Oct. 12. The Patch officially opens from noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 13.
But the highlight of the Pumpkin Patch is the Family Fun Day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 21. The Delray Beach fire department will be on site with a fire engine, and the city’s police K-9 unit will demonstrate this unique partnership.
Be sure to visit the Cason Kids Care lemonade stand. The kids are partnering with Food for the Poor and are supporting a micro-business in Haiti.
Emily Popolizio, a retired teacher from Massachusetts with 41 years’ experience, started the club last August to get more children involved in serving the community.
One of their first projects was a fundraiser for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF). The foundation provides a blueprint for how to hold a lemonade stand fundraiser to fight pediatric cancer, and kids all over the world just follow the directions for a successful venture. The Cason Kids built their own stand at last year’s Pumpkin Patch and went to work selling lemonade for $1 per cup. They raised $500 and donated it to ALSF for pediatric cancer research.
This year, the kids are promoting handmade Christmas and greeting cards crafted from banana leaves by Haitian artists. These artists — among an estimated 4,000 worldwide — support their families on the money they earn selling the one-of-a-kind cards. The program is part of Food for the Poor’s investment strategy that turns people with talent and a desire to work hard into small-business owners.
Called micro-enterprise, this investment in small, self-run business ventures attempts to provide a long-term solution to poverty and instill pride in the work and ownership of destiny.
The Banana Bark program has been one of Food for the Poor’s most successful ventures. You can also order cards online at www.foodforthepoor.org/bananabarkcards.
The Cason Kids Care club, made up of about 20 kids ages 6-11, also baked cookies so each person who buys a card receives a cookie baked by the children as a thank-you.
The club also made blankets for children in foster care and, most recently, started a drive for supplies for local homeless people. The kids collected and assembled food/hygiene kits and socks.
Club membership is open to all, and it doesn’t require any church affiliation. If you have questions, you can ask them over a cup of lemonade at the Family Fun Day or at the church.
The Pumpkin Patch at Cason United Methodist Church takes place from noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 13-14 and noon-6 p.m. Oct. 15, then 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 21 and 28, and noon-6 p.m. Oct. 22 and 29. Call 561-276-5302 or visit casonumc.org.
Bedner’s festival
The annual Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market Fall Festival is back through Oct. 30 in Boynton Beach. Hayrides take visitors around its 80 acres of working farm, and a bigger corn maze awaits guests this year.
Some of the usual attractions include a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, tractor rides, bounce house and games. The festival is closed Tuesdays. Admission is $20.99 weekdays and $25.99 weekends.
Bedner’s is at 10066 Lee Road.
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