BY PAGE CRAMER
Schaake’s Pumpkin Patch has about half of a pumpkin crop due to record-level rainfall this year, but turnout remains high for the family-owned business now celebrating its 45th season.
Forty-five years ago, Larry and Janet Schaake’s children were assigned a forage project where they grew pumpkins. They decided to sell the leftover pumpkins out of the bed of the family farm truck off Highway 10.
Just a few years later, the family began a you-pick patch, and each year its success grew. When reflecting on the past four decades, Janet Schaake said they’ve been good and have helped her family financially.
“The kids have put themselves through school. The grandkids are putting themselves through school now with pumpkin money. It’s been good,” she said.
The patch at 1791 N. 1500 Road between Eudora and Lawrence offers free admission, hayrides, a hay maze, a playground and farm animals. There are also fresh cookies, doughnuts, popcorn and slushes available for purchase, and 30 acres of pumpkins, which sell for 50 cents a pound.
About 5,000 people visit the patch on a weekend day. Seventh-grader Mishayla Guile of De Soto was among the recent visitors. Guile has come to the patch every year with her family and said her favorite parts are the hay maze and popcorn.
“The popcorn is so good here,” Guile said. “We get it every year. It has a good balance of sweet and salty so it’s really good.”
Rick Cronin of Mission, Kansas, said his three kids love the hay maze, popcorn and apple cider.
“We’ve come here for the past three, four years now and we love it. It’s awesome here,” Cronin said. “Great atmosphere, people are great and, like I said, it’s free, so it’s a plus. It’s a little farther maybe, but we just like it out here.”
It wasn’t just Cronin who recently committed to a longer drive to visit the patch. Judy Berrie came from Nebraska to visit last Saturday with her grandchildren.
Starting at 9 a.m., cars filled the lot and parked beside the long gravel road, and people flooded in. With fewer than 30 Schaakes and employees to run the patch, Janet Schaake said it can get overwhelming at times.
“We try the best we can. If somebody gets upset, we say we’re doing the best we can with who we have,” she said.
Although there aren’t any new attractions this year, the patch is missing one of its iconic photography props. The headless horseman, which was out in the big patch, was stolen last week and is still missing.
“People take their picture around it all the time. It’s about 9-foot-tall, and how they got it out I have no idea, but it’s gone now,” Schaake said.
This is the first incident where the patch has had its property stolen and it has affected the Schaake family, leading them to question what their years of hard work have been for.
“We’ve been doing this for 45 years. We’ve never had any of our property stolen or taken, and when they do something like that to you, you just wonder why you’re doing it,” Schaake said.
Despite the headless horseman being missing, the family has made sure to provide plenty of other opportunities for pictures and enjoyment. Schaake said they do their best to cater to everyone, which includes planting 112 kinds of pumpkins.
“We try to have it cover every shape and size for everybody,” she said.
With such a large variety of pumpkins, not every single one gets taken home to be carved, roasted or decorated. However, they certainly do not go to waste.
“As soon as we close on the 30th, we put an electric fence around the pumpkin patch and the cattle will clean up every one of them in a matter of weeks,” Schaake said.
The patch remains open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Oct. 30. For more information, visit https://www.schaakespumpkinpatch.com/.
Reach reporter Page Cramer at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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