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The holiday season is drawing near which means many family traditions will be taking place. And the isles of Halloween decorations and Christmas decorations are already lining the local Wal-marts. And if you’re looking for some pumpkin carving fun, Southwest Roanoke County has just the place for you and your family to find “the” pumpkin to carve, and at an affordable price.
The Cave Spring United Methodist Church (CSUMC) partners every year with the Navaho Indians who are part of the Pumpkin Patch Project. The Navahos raise the pumpkins in New Mexico and ship them to United Methodist  Churches all over the country. A company called Pumpkin Patch out of Greensboro runs the program.
The CSUMC youth group will be running the project, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit them for use in youth projects and the other percentage will go back to the Navaho Indians.
According to Teresa Myers, Co-youth director with Karen Hamilton, the youth group goes to the Rescue mission once a month to serve dinner and make table favors, which is one place the money is used. They also donate money to the Rescue Mission when they have a need for cloths to wipe the tables or food. The youth group also has uses the money for their Souper Bowl in January and to donate to homeless shelters. Myers also said that the money is sometimes used as a scholarship for youth that cannot afford one of their youth trips.
The pumpkins cost from 50 cents to about $12 depending on the size of the pumpkin. People can come buy their pumpkins until October 31 from 10 a.m. until dark. They will have the traditional pumpkins, big and small, white and green ones, and even the bumpy ones they call Frankenstein Pumpkins.
And if pumpkins just aren’t your thing, they also have gourds and Indian Corn.
On Sunday, October 5 at 12:30 p.m. after the church service the church recessed out of the sanctuary to unload about 800 pumpkins from a tractor trailer truck into the “pumpkin path” in the yard of the church.
“The youth love selling the pumpkins. We use it as an outreach. Lots of families come and make it a family event to pick out their pumpkin,” Myers said. “I think that the youth really enjoy the whole aspect of seeing the people come. I think selling the pumpkins makes them appreciate the youth program more. And I think when people hand you something you don’t get as much out of it as when they work for it.”
The CSUMC youth group has about 70 youth members in grades 9 - 12. This is also the fifth year they have participated in the national project.
“We knew that it was a Methodist nation-wide project and we were approached because the only other church that does it is in South Roanoke, so we felt we were filling a need in Southwest Roanoke County,” Myers said.

For more photos from the Cave Spring United Methodist Church pumpkin patch, see our photo gallery.

Does your church in Southwest Roanoke County have news or photos to share? You can share at news@swo-co.com