Pumpkins are a very important part of Fall Fest, and this year, none have grown in the courtyard and nobody knows why.

  Nothing like this has ever happened before. At this time, there are usually 20-30 pumpkins in the courtyard. Ms. Ging, sixth grade math and science teacher, says that she thinks the dry conditions and hot weather caused the pumpkins to not grow while Addison Stumpf, sixth grade student and Science Club member, thinks that weeds are taking nutrients from the pumpkin plants.

 According to Stumpf, the pumpkins were planted around February and they planted lots of different pumpkins. 

Typically, the sixth graders plant new pumpkins for the upcoming sixth graders. Ms. Ging stated that next year, they will plant more pumpkins, refresh the dirt, and try again.

Luckily, the courtyard is not the only source of pumpkins for Fall Fest. In addition, other Freedom families bring in pumpkins and the majority of the pumpkins are donated by Yeck’s Farm.

While we are not exactly sure as to what caused this pumpkin problem, we now have a few clues to what might have happened, and we hope for more pumpkins next year.