Take Your Pick
Pumpkin festival promises patch of Sunday fun

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — The 2nd annual Milan Pumpkin Patch Festival will be a 5-hour event, similar to the popular Easter egg hunt, in which each child gets to go into the field or barn to find his or her very own pumpkin to take home, compliments of the Milan Village government.

The event will be Sunday, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., at the Village Farm next to Kearns Park, off State Hwy. 605 north of the BNSF Railroad tracks.

And all the children of the area are invited. Those who don't want to trek into the plowed field to pick up a pumpkin can go into the barn. As each child makes his or her selection, Deputy Village Clerk Teri Gallegos noted their hand will be stamped to allow the maximum number of kids to have a pumpkin.

Unlike the more structured Easter egg hunt, the pumpkin hunt simply will be first-come, first-served, with no particular age groupings or set starting times.

In addition to the"Great Pumpkin Hunt" there will be hayrides with Corley Valdez driving the wagon and vendors at the barn which also houses the portion of the giant orange fruit which symbolizes Halloween.

This year's vendors who had confirmed with Village Hall by noon Friday include Raymond Lozano with shaved ice and the trampoline-like jumper castle, Jolene Gonzales and Michelle Sterna with miscellaneous foods and beverages being sold as a fund-raiser for a trip, Jenny Garcia with crafts and homemade jewelry, horse rides and (tentatively) the Gemini mobile kitchen.

While they are not planning special displays, the Milan Volunteer Fire Department and the Milan Village Police Department also will be on hand.

This year there are fewer pumpkins than last year's big inaugural event. One reason is because the fast-growing prairie dog population wiped out the young vegetation Valdez planted even before they grew to harvestable size.

So that the children would not be disappointed, the village imported 1,000 New Mexico-grown pumpkins, with the village staff and volunteers "planting" a good portion of them on the surface in the field for the boys and girls who wanted to do their "hunt" outdoors.

To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cell).