The perfect pumpkin patch

Halloween is just a few days away, and for the Habitat for Humanity pumpkin patch at West Alameda Avenue and Garrison Street, that means business is booming. And the best part is, it is business for a good cause. Organized by the West Metro Habitat Interfaith Coalition for the past 16 years (which also runs the pumpkin patch at the Arvada Center), the patch not only features pumpkins, but gourds and other seasonal vegetables for shoppers’ decorative needs. “The pumpkins are grown at the Navajo reservation in Farmington, New Mexico, and they receive 40 percent of the profits,” said volunteer Tom Brunn. “The rest goes to sponsor housing project for people in need — this will be our 15th house.” The patch has become a traditional visiting place for many families in the area, according to Brunn, and almost always sells out by the time the big day finally arrives. “That’s the way you want it,” he said, as he watched families of all ages pick their way through the patch. Volunteers from the coalition, which includes the Green Mountain United Methodist Church, Jefferson Unitarian Church and Congregation B’nai Chaim, among others, are on hand at all times to help with recommendations in size and shape, and to lend a tape measure to those who need one. The benefits of particular specimens are debated and discussed the same way a vineyard owner talks about their grapes. “I’m here to get one for my house. I’ve been coming here every year for a while,” said Carolyn Wrapp. “I keep coming back because I know the people here — my church is one of the ones that volunteers here. We get to help out Habitat and the Native Americans, which is what I care about.” That sentiment is one shared by almost everyone at the pumpkin patch. “When you buy pumpkins here, you’re helping people across the world, and locally,” Brunn said. “That’s charity I can get behind.”