Miles Files: Halloween Mecca -- Half Moon Bay Miles Files: Halloween Mecca -- Half Moon Bay (October 20, 2004)

By Miles McMullin
Eighth-grader, St. Joseph's School, Atherton

BOO!!

If I scared you, get used to it because here comes Halloween.

It seems like everywhere you go, people are getting into the spirit. But the true Mecca of Halloween festivities and pumpkins is in Half Moon Bay.

Over the Columbus Day weekend, I went to Half Moon Bay. As we were driving, we saw at least eight pumpkin patches -- and four of them had huge inflatable slides, pony rides, and even train rides.

Despite all the excitement, my dad and I were determined to get to our final destination: the pumpkin weigh-in contest.

People from Oregon, Washington and California truck-in their enormous pumpkins to win the grand prize. As we arrived, we saw huge pumpkins everywhere -- in trailers, in the back of pickup trucks.

I was lucky to arrive in time to see a huge pumpkin, weighing about 1,125 pounds. If this pumpkin had won, the grower would have received a prize of $5 a pound.

As the day progressed, I started to see how many pumpkins really are grown every year, and it astounded me.

We stopped at one of the patches that had ponies, goats, train rides, and everything in between.

We spent about an hour picking the biggest, roundest and most-orange pumpkins we could find. We then left with seven beautiful pumpkins in the back of our pickup.

As we arrived home, I immediately started carving, and have some pumpkin suggestions for all of you: Carve "BOO," or two circle eyes, triangle nose, and two buck teeth.

Don't cut yourself, and visit Half Moon Bay for some heavy-duty pumpkin time.

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