Page 22 - North Haven Magazine Issue 16 Holiday 2020

by Jill DeChello

rarely write about my own events but this event was so special and had so many amaz-
I ing people involved, I thought it was important for them to be acknowledged. The
Pumpkin Patch came about for three reasons. My own desire to keep Halloween alive,
in a safe environment, for the kids, the town and me, I love dressing up. My desire to
work with Donna and Eric at The Landing. If you have not met them or seen the living
space in The Landing, visit. It is beautiful. And, finally to help the Rotary which helps
many small non-profits though our town.
If you saw the Pumpkin Patch, thank you amazing. Her enthusiasm for the project THE WINNER
for waiting and I hope you found the wait was as strong as mine. I had found a new Kaylie Witteman
worth it. We certainly caused traffic. I friend. Through her, I met all the other She enjoys cheerleading, loves to be creative and do art.
posted one flyer and reached over 70,000 Moms/Dads, about 30 of them and 40+
people. It was crazy. students who helped me carve the hun-
dreds of pumpkins, set up the displays,
acted as characters within the patch and
helped break it down. The students were
so, so helpful but the Moms/Dads were
the powerhouses. Anything I needed,
they got. I called them my Pumpkin An-
gel Moms and the Patch would not have
happened without them. Stop and Shop
generously donated pumpkins but how
do you transport a palette of pumpkins?
First, I didn’t know what a palette was. Af-
ter Donna offered to house the pumpkins,
Heather, from Mike’s Automotive lent
us her flatbed to pick up the pumpkins.
So, the first person I always call on first
is my poor graphics designer, Alex, who
gets suckered into doing all the graphic THE WINNING
work. Then, I call Sally and Walt Brock- PUMPKIN
ett. Amazing, generous, talented people.
Their group, The Daytime Gardeners of
North Haven created the Farm you first
saw when you entered the patch and Walt
built me my Cinderella Pumpkin, the
signage and even cut the stumps for the
displays for me from the tornado. I was
blessed the day I met them.
I was lucky enough to meet Anita An-
derson, who was my Rotary contact and Daytime Gardeners Halloween Farm Fun
she taught me about student community
service hours. My first Mom, Donna, who North Haven Library's Story Reader
will not let me post a picture of her, was There was Dani from Howie’s who gave
so much of her time and talent, Andrea,
my Mom bee that helped with everything,
Teddy who offered to be a display himself,
Melissa, from Now Security was there to
help, the list goes on and on. Ron, from
RVI did everything from carve pump-
kins to transport props. One of my oldest
friends, Joey Jacobs painted Snow White
dwarf pumpkins for me and helped set up.
Two very busy interior designers, Jennifer Student Carvers
Napolitano and Ramona Eldridge put the
Walt Brockett, bringing in the Farm finishes touches on all the displays. It real-
ly took a village to make a patch.

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North Haven Magazine - Holiday Issue 2020