Return of the pumpkin patch kids

MOSES LAKE - Shrieks of delight.

Shrieks of disgust upon uncovering a worm.

Plaintive cries to friends to help open plastic bags or help lug ginormous gourds.

These are the sounds which filled the air at Joan Dopps' Moses Lake home Thursday morning, as second-graders from Peninsula Elementary scouted her pumpkin patch looking for the perfect pick.

For some, it was sizes too large.

For some, it was sizes quite small.

And some were able to find, for them, the most perfect pumpkin of all.

Dopps said she and husband Tom have been working the patch for 25 years, and for 20 years offering students pumpkins grown at their own home. Son Derek also helps out with the patch.

In addition to the pumpkin patch, the students toured the Columbia Basin Fish Hatchery earlier in the morning and tied the patch visit to a butterfly life cycle lesson.

"We grew big gardens, and so it started out with gardening, and then pumpkins and Halloween," Dopps recalled. "Then it started out with taking pumpkins for my class and we started growing more pumpkins, so then we started doing it as a second-grade thing, so all second-graders at Peninsula have gotten to come out here for pumpkins and things."

The event ties in with agriculture, the Grant County Fair and the local community.

"It's a family project, and it's something we can give to the kids," Dopps said. "All kids love pumpkins. My favorite part is you can never predict what's going to happen. Growing pumpkins is an unpredictable science, and we have had to transplant them in three years of the 20 years."

Second-grader Kyle Kowallis said he was looking for a round pumpkin.

"Because it will be better to carve," he said.

Kowallis said he was "surprised" to hear about the field trip, because he would get to go to two places, including the hatchery.

"We got to feed fish," he said.

Second-grader Halley Crane wanted a little pumpkin.

"Because it was not heavy to carry," she said. "I feel good, it has enough space to carry."

Crane was excited about the field trip.

"Because I have never really gone to a pumpkin patch except for the fake ones, the decorations," she explained.

Parent Yvette Cruz said she was a student of Dopps' and now her daughter is continuing on the tradition.

"I love the fact my daughter can enjoy the same things I did," Cruz said. "It's things like this that make us small towns a little better than the big city, because how often does your daughter get to do the same thing you did? I love the fact they get to still do all this. I hope it continues for a little while longer, as long as (Dopps) can keep it going."

Cruz also offered her daughter a few pumpkin-picking tips.

"I told her 'Don't get one too big you can't carry, because I'm not carrying it,'" Cruz said with a laugh. "For sure, that was the first tip: 'Don't make big eyes, because I'm not carrying it.'"