SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Nearing the end of pumpkin picking season, the task of finding the “Great Pumpkin” from the Peanuts comic strip has been even more difficult to locate.
A drought in New York has affected many pumpkin farms across the area. The Pumpkin Hollow, located Southwest of Syracuse, is one of the local patches that was impacted.
Cooper Weinman, an employee that has worked at The Pumpkin Hollow for five years, said that the end result of the pumpkin season goes on a yearly basis.
Because of the weather conditions, last year The Pumpkin Hollow had no choice but to replant because the plants were doing so poorly.
“Last year was really wet and a lot of them died,” Weinman said. “But this year, it just reduced the size of our large pumpkins.”
After dealing with a drought this year, Weinman said “It was kind of a waiting game…you just kind of hope everything goes well.”
Weinman said that with the weather being drier in the summer, it helped the pumpkin patch with the survival percentage of their crops.
“They were smaller but we still had the numbers that we’re looking for.”
Mary DeTomaso, a loyal and local customer, said that she and her neighbors go to The Pumpkin Hollow each year.
“There’s a lot more [smaller pumpkins], but that’s what I like,” said DeTomaso following, “I’m sure most people like the bigger ones, I just like to scatter them through my garden, make it look pretty.”
“People love the $2 Pumpkins just because they look so perfect. But there’s some kids that just love the giant pumpkins,” said Weinman.
Looking further into the future, Weinman said that because of the drought and other pests, there might be a decline in Christmas trees this year.
