“Pumpkins are like Christmas trees. When little kids see them, their eyes light up and they smile.”
Those words, uttered by the late George Perry, was in response to a question more than a decade ago.
He was asked to explain how a handshake he made in 1958 with the late Antoine Raymus to rent acreage to plant pumpkins near the Old Summer Home School site at Cottage Avenue and Southland Road ended up leading to Manteca becoming the undisputed pumpkin heavyweight capital in the western United States.
Perry added “it was a joy” to grow something that made kids so happy.
Perry’s farming concern gave birth to George Perry & Sons. It is now the largest melon broker on the West Coast, moving harvests as far away as Arizona to market.
Actually, you could say George Perry & Sons is in the fruit business given that is what pumpkins, watermelons, honey dews, and cantaloupes are classified as botanically.
The reason why San Joaquin County is California’s largest winegrape growing county is the well-drained soil, hot days with nights cooled by Delta breezes that steps up the sugar content of fruit.
It is the same reason why there are more pumpkins and watermelons grown in San Joaquin County than anywhere else in California.
Manteca-Ripon is home to the two most well-known purveyors of watermelons — Perry & Sons as well as Van Groningen & Sons that broker under the moniker Yosemite Fresh.
Both growers’ carboard shipping boxes grace stores up and down the Pacific Coast from Costco, Target, and Walmart to mom and pop endeavors.
The 2,520 acres dedicated to growing pumpkins in the fields around Manteca, Ripon and Tracy is roughly the same size as land that is within the four square miles in Manteca bounded by Louise Avenue, Cottage Avenue, Yosemite Avenue, and Union Road.
From those 2,520 acres, 37,500 tons were shipped to market. That’s over 70 percent of the pumpkins produced that year in California.
It is little wonder pumpkins are celebrated the first weekend of October in Manteca.
Pumpkin Fair is today
& Sunday in Manteca
This year’s celebration — the 40th annual Sunrise Kiwanis Manteca Pumpkin Fair — takes place in downtown Manteca today and Sunday, Oct. 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days.
And if you count pumpkin celebrations staged by other service clubs beforehand, the pumpkin fun has been going on for half a century in Manteca.
That said, no one can throw a pumpkin party like “The Pumpkin Fair People” — the Sunrise Kiwanis.
Downtown Manteca is being turned into all things pumpkin in the triangle formed by Yosemite Avenue, Main Street, and Center Street.
It features free admission, free entertainment, free parking, and free fun.
The two-day Manteca Pumpkin Fair is the biggest laid-back evens on the calendar in Manteca.
It started 52 years ago as a way for Manteca’s pumpkin growers to express community pride and to give kids a day of old-fashioned fun.
Half Moon Bay claimed in the 1970s that it was the Pumpkin Capital of the World.
Manteca pumpkin growers headed by Perry were a bit taken aback by Half Moon Bay’s boost given the fact historically anywhere between 70 and 80 percent of all pumpkins grown in California come from the fields around Manteca.
That prompted the farmers to start an informal “pumpkin fair” for a few hours one day at Library Park in downtown Manteca,
It consisted of some kids’ games, a belly dancer that first year, bales of hay and a small mountain of pumpkins. They also openly challenged Half Moon Bay’s claim. That led to the “friendly feud” between the two communities being a featured cover story in People magazine.
Today the Manteca Pumpkin Fair is staged by the Sunrise Kiwanis.
The service organization has earned enough from staging the Pumpkin Fair over the last 40 years to donate more than $1.3 million to Manteca non-profits.
What’s on tap at this
year’s Pumpkin Fair
Besides more than 200 vendors and the Kids Zone at Library Park there are free concerts on the community stage.
The Saturday bands are GK Music from 10:30 a.m. to noon, Texas Funk from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., and ZZ Tush from 3 to 5 p.m.
Sunday’s lineup features Triple D from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., No Way Back from 1 to 3 p.m., and Valley Fire from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
The mellow family-orientated Pumpkin Fair After Dark is tonight in Wilson Park in downtown.
It’s the free annual Halloween-themed movie presentation that this year features “The Nightmare Before Christmas” movie at 6:30 p.m. The free entry event features a disc jockey and games. Food will be available at a snack bar..
A car show is on Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the 100 block of Main Street. Entry fee on the day of the show is $30. For details go to SunriseKiwanis.org
While everything is about pumpkins this weekend, the Sunrise Kiwanis want to get kids hooked on turnips, lettuce, carrots and parsley.
The Urban Green Project has teamed up with Kiwanis to stage a Kids Fall Planting Event at the Manteca Community Garden during the Manteca Pumpkin Fair.
You can stop by the community garden next to the tennis courts across from the Manteca Library on Center Street between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today to take home seeds to plant compliments of the Sunrise Kiwanis.
The various seeds — depending on the vegetable — will take 30, 40, 60, 70 or 90 days to go from seed to being ready to harvest.
The community garden is also where the pumpkin decorating contest with categories for kids, the scariest, and most original is being staged. It takes place Sunday. 5. Bring your pumpkins by between 10 a.m. and noon. Judging takes place at 2 p.m.
For additional information on the Pumpkin Fair, go to sunrisekiwanis.org
