Assassin scaring away buyers
10/22/02
By CAROL KINSLEY
Folks are being scared away from pumpkin patches in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, not by ghosts and goblins but by the sniper who has claimed the lives of nine people who were just going about their business.
Schools from Fredericksburg, Va., north are in “lockdown” with no outdoor recess, no athletic events on campus and no field trips.
“It’s too bad that one person has put that much fear and terror in people’s hearts,” said Judith Fulks of Belvedere Plantation near Fredericksburg.
Belvedere Plantation boasts one of the country’s largest corn mazes and has had a pumpkin patch for 25 years. This year, there are few visitors.
“Some of the private day care groups and home schoolers are coming, but the schools have cancelled,” Fulks said. Normally, the place would be busy on a weekend, too, but people seem to be staying home.
“On top of that, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said there was a severe shortage of pumpkins because of the drought!” Fulks said. “We irrigate. We have plenty of pumpkins.”
The local newspaper and television news programs repeated the report. “No one interviewed a pumpkin grower,” Fulks noted.
The rain that finally came after months of drought has also hurt business. “On cloudy days, when there’s even a threat of rain, people won’t come. They don’t come unless it’s absolutely beautiful weather.”
Evening hay rides for teenager and adults, however, continue to attract visitors.
“We feel our farm is safe,” said Fulks, whose daughter had passed by the site of one slaying only 15 minutes before the sniper attacked.
“We are still open for business,” Fulks said. “We’re hoping that after things die down, with the kids having been cooped up so long, that people will come out.”
Susan Watson of Robin Hill Farm Nursery in Brandywine, Md., said visitors are way down because of the sniper. “We usually have 500 to 1,000 school kids per day, and I think last week we had one or two hay rides with maybe 60 people. This week we’ve had four or five.
“It’s very sad. We’ve definitely experienced a kickback from the sniper.”
Schools are trying to re-schedule, she said, “but we’re taking it day by day. They call in the morning to say, ‘Sorry, we’re still under lockdown.’”
Up in Woodbine, Md., things aren’t much better. Business is off 20 to 50 percent at Larriland Farms, according to Lynn Moore. The family has had a pumpkin patch and seasonal attractions for 25 years. Moore wouldn’t say it was the worst year yet – “It’s not over yet,” she said, hopefully.
“It has been the most frustrating,” she admited. “We’ve got the most beautiful pumpkin crop we’ve ever had, and no one is selling pumpkins, so we can’t wholesale them either.”
At Elmer’s Market in Bridgeville, Del., Dottie Hamstead said their business is suffering, too. “It’s been evident since that whole 9/11 thing last year. Visiting our market was something to do, but people are skeptical of going out anymore. It’s hard to accept.
Elmer’s usually has 4,000 to 5,000 school children visit each year, but schools are cancelling.
Rainbow Farms, near Easton, Md., has had a couple of schools cancel field trips, but noted that one called back to reschedule at a later date, hoping “things will be taken care of by then.”