WEST, Texas — A summer without rain means a fall without pumpkins.
Luckily for consumers, pumpkin patches like Western Belle Farm in West are finding ways to keep tradition alive.
When Taylor Huffman and her husband moved to Central Texas from Maryland last year to open Western Belle, they had high hopes of continuing the pumpkin farm they operated for years.
Mother Nature had other plans.
"Unfortunately, we ran out of water. And they did not get enough rainfall to grow," Huffman said.
An empty field isn't stopping the Belle. The farm placed an order to a Texas Panhandle pumpkin farm and had thousands of pumpkins shipped to West for its fall festival.
"We're excited to still have thousands of pumpkins and have beautiful fall photo-op spots," Huffman said. "Sadly, they're just not our pumpkins."
The Texas Farm Bureau said farms other farms with fall festivities are having to do the same, and at a price.
"Those costs are gonna be higher, because of transportation costs," Gary Joiner, spokesperson for Texas Farm Bureau said. "But they're needed to continue those recreational activities."
Western Belle is making up for the loss by hosting a long list of other attractions, including zip lines, a pumpkin cannon and a barrel train.
Other farms, like Robinson Family Farm in Temple, also report ordering pumpkins from farms outside of Central Texas.
Both the Belle and Robinson also said their sunflower crops also fell victim to the summer's weather.
Western Belle Farm is located at 7929 Heritage Parkway, West, TX 76691. Its fall festival runs every weekend through Nov. 6.
More information is available on the farm's Facebook page.
