Even though Charlie Brown and the gang were unable to see the Great Pumpkin, Cedar Falls residents and UNI students may have a chance at finding even better pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch.
The Patch, located at 305 Roosevelt Street, is a family-owned and operated business that offers two separate areas for customers to explore.
The retail area offers free admission for customers to purchase a variety of pumpkins, cornstalks, hay bales, mums, squash and more. The indoor area also offers candles, t-shirts, fall decorations, tote bags, jewelry, socks, soap, hot and cold drinks and many more goodies.
The admission area offers a $5 admission for kids and adults to explore various fall games and activities such as pumpkin bowling, witch hat ring toss, hay bale climbing, pedal kart racing, basketball and playing in the corn pit. Customers can also make use of the fall photo ops displayed around the grounds. The business accepts both cash and debit/credit cards.
The Patch is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 1 to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The business started their fifth season of operation on September 16 and the season will run through October 31.
The Patch is owned by Darron and Debbie Olson and their family. Darron is an entrepreneur and one day decided to sell pumpkins utilizing a building the family owned. The idea only grew from there.
Darron and Debbie’s daughters Liz, Alex and Abby also help run the business. Abby graduated from UNI in the spring of 2022 and majored in Marketing.
“My favorite part is bringing something to the community. I love watching people enjoy their time here. It is really fun to see,” Abby said.
The Olson family creates all of the items featured in the retail and admission areas and they begin prepping for the season in the summer. The family also grows all of the pumpkins they sell with the help of local farmers.
“Before opening this, I had never seen so many pumpkins before…apparently there are a lot of different ones out there,” Abby said.
The Patch offers over 20 different varieties of pumpkins to purchase. Abby said that her favorite kind of pumpkin is the “fairy tale” pumpkin which is technically known as a black futsu.
Abby also mentioned how her family are vendors at the Cedar Falls Farmers Market. She and her husband, Brandon, also plan to open a bookstore, the Nook, on Main Street in November. The couple will move into the space where Miss Wonderful was located prior to its closing.
