He said he'd settle for some candy corn and a Starbucks coffee. Double the buzz; no horse manure.
Set on the gentle slope of a hill, the pumpkin patch is hard for motorists to miss, which is great news for sales and not too great news for the unlucky driver who seven years ago took the curve on Seminary too fast and plowed straight through the gourds.
"I tell people, 'You can put your money anywhere,' " says "Pumpkin Lady" Wendy John. "But you might as well do good with it."
(Photos Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)
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"It was a disaster for them and a disaster for us," Wade recalled. Undeterred, "we started over."
Today the pumpkin patch is a neighborhood institution.
That's how former Alexandria City Council member David Speck sees it. Speck arrived early yesterday, selecting two pumpkins. Normally he shops with his wife. This time he was solo, requiring "a lot of confidence on my wife's part," he acknowledged.
"You're getting pumpkins with character," said John, examining the pumpkins at Speck's feet.
"It's funny you're saying that," countered Speck, squinting at one of his choices, a slightly lopsided gourd. Cute, but indeed no prizewinner.
"Every pumpkin needs a home," she assured him, laughing.
Immanuel's sale runs through Oct. 31. Until then, the pumpkin patch is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
