By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
The Piedmont Pumpkin Patch was in danger of being shut down until someone else stepped in to save it.
Kurt Mayabb, president of the Piedmont Roundup Club, announced the club will take over the operations effective immediately. The pumpkins will be sold on a lot north of the Roundup Club and south of ECI Insurance, 325 Piedmont Road N.
The patch will reopen in its new location at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.
The annual fundraiser benefited the Piedmont Service Center which started the pumpkin patch in 2001. The Piedmont Service Center provides food and clothing to less fortunate families.
Mayabb said the Service Center has set a high standard for the Roundup Club to meet and he hopes to see it grow.
“A percentage of the proceeds will go to the Veterans (PAVA),” Mayabb said, “and the rest will go to us (Roundup Club). We haven’t sat down with the veterans and talked about the amount yet. At the end of the day it’s for the community. It’s a little bigger area for it and we’re going to try to have games and stuff like that for the kids.”
The pumpkin patch was in danger of being shut down after it lost several of its volunteers due to their advanced age. Regina Mayabb, founder of the Piedmont Service Center, said it was just too difficult for their core volunteers to continue operating it.
“We had one individual, an elderly man, and he came up there to volunteer his last year and he just couldn’t lift a pumpkin,” she said. “So, he just sat on an antique tractor and just looked it over. It was sad.”
Mayabb held back a swell of emotion as she recalled her favorite memories.
“The fondest memories, just the good times with some of our elders coming here to visit. That was the most fun thing I remember and then after we were there several years, some of the students that had graduated and went to college came back to the patch. ‘Hey, do you remember me?’ and when you realize they’re the ornery kids at the patch and now they’re attorneys. We’ve had clients who come back and buy pumpkins and thank us for giving them the food. That’s what it’s really all about.”
Regina Mayabb said she is grateful for the support over the years from the community.
“It’s been a fun, great fundraiser,” she said. “A lot of help over the years.”
