Vandalism at east-side church’s pumpkin patch frustrates workers

Vandals came to the East Heights United Methodist Church pumpkin patch sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning and smashed about $300 worth of pumpkins, officials at the church said.

It’s not the first time the church on East Douglas has had smashing incidents this year. Within the last two weeks, pumpkins have been smashed three times, said Paige Nelson, the church’s director of youth ministry.

“It just frustrates me that people would do that,” she said. “I can’t believe people would do that no matter where pumpkins are, but especially at a church that’s trying to raise money to go to a mission trip.”

The proceeds from the church’s annual pumpkin patch go to help send its youth groups on mission trips to poverty-stricken counties in the United States, she said.

“We try to give the kids a good moral compass,” she said. “It seems the people that are doing this don’t have that.”

Nelson said Calvary United Methodist Church, on North Rock Road, has also reported smashed pumpkins this year.

“We’ve had pretty good luck in the past – this year it just seems it’s been worse than ever,” Nelson said.

There are still plenty of un-smashed pumpkins at East Heights – the pumpkin patch is open through Halloween night.

People can come to purchase pumpkins of varying sizes and prices from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and from noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays.

“There’s nothing we can really do to make that money up,” Nelson said of the lost profit from smashings. “We just try to get the word out so people tell their friends this is for a good cause.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Vandalism at east-side church’s pumpkin patch frustrates workers."