Once upon a time not far from Holly’s house in a popular suburb of one of the countries largest cities was a pumpkin patch. And by pumpkin patch Holly means a large picturesque field where pumpkins are trucked in and laid in neat rows.
Holly and her family visited and enjoyed the pumpkin patch very much. They looked forward to the following fall so that they could visit again.
The next year Holly was surprised to see the WHOLE field full of pumpkins. She couldn’t wait to go visit the super-sized pumpkin patch.
Hey, wait!
It wasn’t just one pumpkin patch. It was now two.
Practically identical pumpkin patches sitting right next to each other.
Holly wasn’t the only one that noticed the phenomenon.
The pumpkin patches noticed each other.
Soon each patch had new signs:
And then some more signs:
At this point some legal action took place that Holly is too tired to review and report back to you. She assumes it involved lawyers, judges and a whole bunch of pumpkin patch proceeds.
She would also like to make the following legal disclaimer: Holly has no further understanding of this case then what is obvious to the general public while driving a minivan past the patches at no more than 50 mph. Nothing drawn in marker should be construed as fact, opinion or slander.
Once the case was settled, things settled down a bit at the patches.
One of the patches received a new name!
And so it went for a few pumpkin seasons. The Patch and Village coexisted in a civil manner. As civil as two fighting children required to sit next to each other.
Then a new sign appeared last fall on the patch formally known as Village:
It appeared they had changed their name to Park.
Why Park?
Holly thinks that it might have something to do with the fact that when you drive from town toward the Patch, you cannot tell that there are two separate pumpkin entities. All you are looking for is pumpkins and a place to park:
That Pumpkin Park is so sneaky it is downright scary.
***
Amy @ Living Locurto
I’m cracking up!!! We go to the “Original” every year:-) I’m only looked over the fence at the Village… oh I mean PARK.
Jamie Harrington
I, @jamieharrington, do solemnly swear to only go to the ORIGINAL punkin patch.
Rachel N
Love this! We are a fan of the “Original” 😉
HeatherW
We only visited the “CopyCat Patch” when the Original was closed Oct2 because of the storm the night before. Must say…I like the Original best!
LantanaLinks.com
Greatness! LOL
Lee Ann Saye
Okay that is hilarious! We go to the “original” every year.
Mary Kay
Can’t wait to hear the retelling of how they both also have xmas tress now!
Stephanie
Love this! I am wondering who in the world goes to the Traitor Patch b/c everyone I know supports the Original.
Melissa
Seriously. Why did the copycat patch even decide it was a good idea to start stealing the customers? I read the newspaper article about it back in the day. Didn’t they used to be friends? That’s just dirty pool right there. The ORIGINAL is right around the corner in Double Oak from where I grew up. I’ll always be loyal to THE Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch.
bianca
I notice that The Original always has WAY more pumpkins each year…which leads me to believe they have more funds to work with. Not only that, but I always seem to see lots of people at The Original. The only complaint I have about them is that on November 1st, they always have a TON of pumpkins left over and I can’t help but think: What a waste!
Shauna
Heading that way today!
HappyCampers
I agree with Bianca…I wish they would sell them, for like, $1 or something. What do they do with all the leftovers? I would LOOOOOVE to buy some for super-cheap and use them for the seeds. A few pumpkins that we carve never make enough roasted seeds to satisfy our needs!!
CK
The Pumpkin Park was started because of the rudeness of the owner of the “original” pumpkin patch. The pumpkin park owners went over to the original to buy pumpkins and when the dad expressed surprise at the cost (his total came up to $1700) the “original” told him to “piss off and get off her land”.
So the dad decided that he would start his own pumpkin patch and give all his proceeds to charity. Next time you are at the original, go find the owner and see how nice she is. I’ve met her twice and her rudeness was enough for me!
Everyone seems to think that they started the Pumpkin Park to make a bunch of cash but that isn’t it at all. In fact, they pay $5000 in insurance just for the month of October so the kids can ride rides.
It would be a whole lot better if people knew the facts behind it instead of just speculating. And yes, I do know the family at the Pumpkin Park and they are really nice people who work hard to give families a good pumpkin patch experience!
Texasholly
Thanks for the information! As I mentioned in the post, all we can see if what is obvious from the street and visiting the pumpkin patches. I can’t even imagine the insurance costs involved to run a pumpkin patch – the whole thing seems like a HUGE investment. Happy pumpkin patch visiting!
Christine McCullough
I got tricked into that PUMPKIN PARK! I saw it first as I drove down the street and thought,hmmm I thought it was the FlowerMound Pumpkin Patch, but whatever. And I parked and I couldn’t figure out where to put my canned goods and had to pay for rides and it seemed small. Then I realized, I was supposed to be next door!!!
Angela Adams
I have only been coming to these “pumpkin selling places” for the past couple of years. Last year we went to FM Pumpkin Patch, the Original one! I intended to go back this year, we had a great experience last year and thought why not. When we got there tonight, the gate was locked and we couldn’t figure out how to get in. We took a look at the peeps and noticed the other pumpkin patch had about 10 cars and the “original” one had about 100 cars. I for one enjoy the calm quiet times with my family so we opted not to fight crowds and headed over to the “other” one! Yes, the original is much bigger, but hey I’m just here to let my kids have fun, pick a pumpkin and enjoy a picnic dinner with my family! It was wonderful! Whatever the reason, whatever the story, we may never know! Now that I have been to both, I will choose the less crowded one everytime! And Geez thats a bunch of money for insurance! Thanks to both for providing such a fun expereince for FREE!! (minus the cost of pumpkins)
LM
I have to agree with CK above. We’ve been going to the original for years, but this week, I had the unpleasant experience of interacting with the owner, and she was the rudest person I’d ever met. We had met about five or six other moms from my son’s first grade class there for a picnic lunch and a hayride. I had called ahead of time to see if we could get a reserved hayride since we were going to be a group of 22. When I reserved, she asked what group we were with, and I told her that our kids were all classmates, but we were not coming as a school-sanctioned activity, we just all happened to be in class together. But she took the school name anyway. When we arrived this week, I went to “check in” at her table, and she pointed her finger at me, informed me that “my group” had almost caused her a disaster last week when four kids all climbed to the top of an inflatable slide and nearly collapsed it, so I needed to make sure I was watching “my group” like a hawk today. Not sure why she was blaming “my group” since we weren’t there last week– other than she knew which school we attended, and there must have been another group of kids there from our school last week. Okay– just blow it off…..I’m sure she’s a nice person, right? She then went and confronted one of the moms from our class who was standing next to the hay maze by herself, and the owner asked her if the kids in the hay maze were hers. The mom said that “one of them” was hers. The owner then said “are you from (school name)?” The mom answered “yes”, and the owner shook her finger in this mom’s face and said “then you are responsible for all these kids and you need to make sure they are following the rules!” This mom couldn’t even respond– she was so startled, she didn’t know what to say back. None of the other kids in the hay maze were hers, nor were they from our playgroup. Another time, the owner was informed me how the moms from “your group” stand around and visit and don’t pay attention to their kids, and how we need to look after all of the kids in our group and make sure they are obeying the rules. In the same breath, she pointed at three boys who were climbing in an unacceptable manner on a jump house thingy nearby, and said “see?! aren’t those boys from your group?!” When I answered “no”, she said, “well, you need to make sure your kids are following the rules.” When it came time for our scheduled hayride, the owner pointed at me again (she likes to point, apparently), and she said “when the hayride is over, I want YOU to collect the money, then come over here, tell me how many pumpkins all the kids got, and pay me. I don’t want 20 moms coming over here trying to pay me.” Okay. I’m trying to be a kind, patient, love-your-neighbor Christian mom who will reflect well on our school. So I hold my tongue and obediently went to her table after the hayride to pay her for the 17 pumpkins the children had gotten on the hayride. Her parting words, after I kindly said “thank you”, was “make sure you’re watching all your kids over there.” Not that I have to defend our kids, but we had a group of about 22 people, 15 of which were kids. They are all very compliant, obedient kids who are homeschooled half-time. They are not perfect, but none of them behaved in any unacceptable manner while we were there, so I do not understand why she was being so accusing towards us. I, for one, will not be returning to the original patch next year. My family will be visiting the pumpkin park from now on.
Theresa
I’m anxious to meet this owner of the original pumpkin patch…she sounds like she should be running a haunted house, not a pumpkin patch!
I’m going next weekend, wish me luck!