Forget about the Norman Rockwell touchy feely approach to pumpkins.

You know the one. The frost is on the pumpkins. A black cat snuggled against a pumpkin in the hay.

Pumpkins are serious business in Manteca and Lathrop. When folks aren’t busy shipping a thousand or so truckloads of the fruit — yes they are fruit — to market they’re out shooting off rounds of mini-pumpkins at speed up to 100 mph for $6 a bucket from an bazooka type of weapon known as a “Pumpkin Blaster.”

Half Moon Bay can make all the exaggerated claims they want, but Manteca is the true Pumpkin Capital and it has its own festival to match.

Almost 8 out of every 10 pumpkins sold commercially in California go rumbling out of Manteca on trucks from now to the last week of October.

Fields around Manteca yielded 54,000 tons of pumpkins in 2013 with a gross value of $16.2 million. They virtually will all end up for decorative uses — except those that are splattered in the street or smashed against targets at Dell’Osso Farms’ Pumpkin Corn Maze.

Pumpkin fun gets underway today at 10 a.m. with a double shot of gourds as both the 31st annual Sunrise Kiwanis Manteca Pumpkin Fair and the 19th annual Dell’Osso Farms Pumpkin Corn Maze both open at the same time.



Pumpkin Fair

The 31st annual Pumpkin Fair is today and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the downtown Manteca triangle bounded by the railroad tracks, Main Street, and Center Street.

Nearly 40,000 people attended last year’s event making it the biggest two-day party in Manteca.

The Sunrise Kiwanis over the past three decades have generated nearly $600,000 for nonprofit groups serving youth, the elderly and the community by staging the fair.

There are nearly 200 vendors selling everything from foods and craft items to toys, CDs, and household items.

There are two stages of continuous entertainment plus the Pumpkin Patch “Kids Zone.”

The Pumpkin Patch features pumpkin rolling, pumpkin seed spitting, and pie eating among other contests.

The Pumpkin Fair carnival is being conducted adjacent to JC Penney at the 120 Bypass and Union Road through Sunday.



Pumpkin Maze

 Question: How far can you lob a mini-pumpkin using a 6-foot barrel with sights?

Answer: About 200 yards.

The Pumpkin Maze at Dell’Osso Farms is back for its 19th annual run including the wildly popular “pumpkin blasters” welded from steel. For $6, you get a bucket of ammo — 12 mini-pumpkins to be exact — that you can fire away at targets that include the standard open mouths on Halloween characters, a used car, and hanging tires.

People have stood in line — sometimes for hours —  for a chance to shoot off the blasters.

The pumpkin blasters are a sideshow to the main event —  a 60-acre corn maze accessible off Interstate 5 at the Mathney Road exit just south of the Highway 120 Bypass interchange.

In addition to the massive corn maze, there are other attractions — both paid and free including a haunted castle, rope course, train ride, hay wagon ride, zip lines, pedal race cars, a bucking pumpkin (think mechanical bucking bulls)  and more.

 The event also features a 2-acre picnic ground, free parking, food and lots of areas for the kids to play.  There is also a country store, plenty of food options, plus a pumpkin patch.

The maze and the rest of Dell’Osso Farms is open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Halloween. Admission to the grounds is free.

For more information, go to the website at www.pumpkinmaze.com