With the spooky season just around the corner, the Richmond Nature Park is getting into the Halloween spirit by hosting a pumpkin sale to help raise funds for its ongoing programs.
Richmondites are encouraged to swing by the nature park to pick up pumpkins for all their carving needs – thanks to donations from Bill Mckinney, a Richmond farmer whose family has been farming on Richmond land for generations.
Angela Soon, a community facilities coordinator with Richmond Nature Park, said they have been purchasing hundreds of pumpkins in October every year from Mckinney over the past few years.
“He will sow pumpkin seeds and reserve the whole field for us,” said Soon.
“One or two weeks before the Wild Things event, we will go there and take as many as we want. Sometimes we filled two big trucks, and one time we even filled three big trucks.”
However, five years ago, she said, Mckinney rejected the organization’s payment and directly donated the pumpkins instead.
“He was happily telling us to please sell these pumpkins to raise funds to support Nature Park,” said Soon, adding that they are so overwhelmed with gratitude and joy.
Because of the ongoing pandemic, the nature park, like many other organizations, have been impacted financially.
Many of the Richmond Nature Park’s in-person programs and events had to be halted due to the pandemic.
This included the park’s annual Wild Things event, a Halloween-inspired event, which featured hundreds of jack-o-lanterns lining a walking trail, storytelling and pumpkin carnival games, which will likely not happen this year.
Pumpkins are going for $5 each, no matter what size they are, until they are all sold out.
