Jackson’s Orchard Annual ‘Pumpkin Fest’ happening now through Oct. 29

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - The color of the month at Jackson’s Orchard is orange because it’s pumpkin season! In the six weekends leading up to Halloween, the orchard holds what they call a Pumpkin Festival.

“Pumpkin Festival has been going on for 20-plus years now,” said Co-owner, Johnathan Price.

The festival has a whole variety of different activities for families to participate in including a petting zoo, hay rides, face painting, a corn field maze, and a pumpkin patch with several different varieties to choose from.

“We’ve got the standard, quote-unquote, orange Jack O’Lantern pumpkin. We have orange pie pumpkins, white pie pumpkins, yellow pie pumpkins, large white pumpkins, blue, pink, orange, and Cinderella pumpkins to stack,” Price said. “There’s green apple gourds that you can decorate with and then dry and some people like making birdhouses out of them. There’s a wide, wide range of shapes, colors, sizes, so hopefully something for everybody.’’

When looking at the differences between the pumpkins and what they are used for, Price said it’s mainly about the size but also can be a personal preference.

“It really depends on the meat that’s inside,” Price said. “You got a pumpkin pie pumpkin that’s yay big. It doesn’t have as much meat per pumpkin obviously as a big Jack O’Lantern pumpkin... everybody prefers one variety over another. Same with apples in the store, I mean some people love gold and delicious and some people love honey crisp.”

Price said one of his favorite parts of the whole festival is seeing the reactions of the kids who visit.

“You see a kid getting off the hayride, with a little pumpkin that he or she’s picked in the patch or in the parking lot here and getting out of the car, and they start screaming with excitement about the slides on the playground... that’s wonderful,” Price said, “It’s great to see families out here, being outside and enjoying what we’re doing.”

As far as pumpkin prices go, Price said they have been the same at the orchard for the last three years.

“Some things have gone up, but not tremendously,” he said. “There’s not as many hands and people touching these things when they come from the field to the store or out in the yard. We’ve done some other things to be able to cut some costs, so hopefully the consumer doesn’t feel that like they do at the grocery store.”

The Pumpkin Festival runs now through Oct. 29. Jackson’s Orchard is located at 1280 Slim Island Road in Bowling Green.

For more information, visit jacksonsorchard.com or call (270) 781-5303.

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