West Suburban Bureau

Rain Leads To Short Pumpkin Supply

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ― It's that time of year when pumpkins are prized for delicious pies and decorations. But this year growers in the Chicago area have a problem. CBS 2's West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports perfect pumpkins may be hard to find.

When school groups walk out of the Johansen Farms Petting Zoo, each child leaves with a pumpkin. Pie pumpkins are in relatively short supply this year because of the rain.

"We have our pie pumpkins, we saved everything in the high area, otherwise we lost everything," said Carol Cremeens Johansen, owner.

That's why this Bolingbrook field is filled with rotting pumpkins.

"When you have too much water, that mushes up the pumpkins and you get pumpkin rot in the fields," Johansen said.

Annette Spencer of Elmhurst had seen news reports about a less than bumper crop of pumpkins.

"I heard that too, but coming here I was really pleasantly surprised that there are a lot of pumpkins here," Spencer said.

Johansen says that's in part because they've been bringing in pumpkins from out of state.

"The majority of our pumpkins are coming in now from Indiana and Michigan," Johansen said.

The gourd-rotting rain is just one-half of an inflationary tag team.

At Johansen Farms, they've raised their prices by two cents a pound for two reasons – the wet weather and the high price of gas.

But two cents a pound isn't enough to spoil Halloween for children turned budding artists.

Eric Spencer of Elmhurst says he will transform his pumpkin into "Batman."

Nathan Butkus of New Lenox says he will "turn it into a jack-o-lantern."

When it comes to growing pumpkins, it can be hit or miss depending on the amount of moisture - precisely how high or low the patch was when the rains came.

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