The heavy rain brought in by the atmospheric river on Oct. 19, was no match for Aldor Acres Family Farm's pumpkin patches, which remained open for the wet weekend.
Only one of the family-run farm's smaller pumpkin patch fields flooded when the nearby creek overflowed, said farm hand Melissa Anderson.
"Those pumpkins in that field went into the Fraser River, so they're probably floating in the ocean feeding fish now," she laughed.
Anderson said the biggest challenge this year was the amount of rain B.C. had earlier in the season, which caused the freshly planted pumpkin seeds to rot and prevent them from germinating.
"We had to plant a couple sections twice, but overall it was a good season. We have great crop this year, we are happy with it," she told The Star.
Pumpkins are the main crop at Aldor Acres 鈥� and have been since its inception 鈥� and are grown on 20 acres at the property at 25000-block of 84 Avenue. In fact, pumpkins is where it all started for owners Albert Anderson and his wife Dorothy. They put a small sign and a jar at the end of the road back in 1988 and started selling pumpkins on the honour system.
In addition to food being served up, the farm has dozens of holiday activities to offer, and the community is loving it, Anderson said.
There is a farm market, open-air animal interactions, the pumpkins patches, and more to take in. But hay wagon rides are the most popular, she noted.
鈥淗ay rides are really nice. They loop around the farm, take you to pumpkin patch, and back to the garden."
Those who are not comfortable taking a ride on the wagon can purchase pumpkins at the entrance or even bring their own bags to carry pumpkins from the field by foot.
While the farm grows thousands of pumpkins for Halloween, not all are picked by the guests. Those failing to impress families become dinner for the farm cows and pigs.
In addition, the farm also has ducks, goats, donkeys, chickens, sheep, bunnies, emus, and horses. These animals never fail to attract little kids, who love petting them.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 30 and 31, the farm will have a pumpkin carving area set up for free. People are invited to leave their pumpkins at the farm to be judged at a staff party, where the winner will receive a free pass for Easter to the farm.
Aldor Acres is located at 24990 84 Ave., and is open everyday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the season, Sept. 21 to Nov. 1.
