Festival brings family together

They all acknowledge this year is different — how loss has shaken up 20 years of doing the same thing.

Every September since 1992, 30-plus members of the Hunsader extended family gather at their farm and prepare for the Pumpkin Festival.

As part of a seven-day-per-week ritual, they unload hay from a trailer.

They stuff and dress scarecrows and scatter them throughout 1,000 acres of land.

They plow a corn maze.

This year, it twists and turns to spell out, “Rest in peace, Papa.”

The Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival will kick off Saturday, Oct. 12, with the recent loss of the family patriarch, Jim Hunsader, tightening the core of an event all about bringing people together.

“People always wonder, ‘How do you keep doing this?’” said festival co-organizer Trish Hunsader. “It’s so much work. But the older we get, we hear from more and more adults who tell you this was a part of their childhood. With Jim gone, it reinforces the generational nature of this. We’re so close as a family, and this is so family-oriented, and that really motivates us.”

Jim Hunsader founded the farm with his late brothers, Paul and Robert, in 1967. He died Aug. 17, a month before his sons, Mike and David Hunsader and their wives, Trish and Kim, along with some of his 14 grandchildren, opened the farm for its 47th season.

Up until the last two years of his life, when he battled with Parkinson’s disease and the remnants of a stroke he suffered in January 2011, Jim Hunsader made sure the festival ran smoothly from the driver’s seat of his golf cart.

This year’s festival, held at Hunsader Farms, 5500 CR 675, Bradenton, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the next three weekends: Oct. 12 to 13, Oct. 19 to 20 and Oct. 26 to 27. Entry is $8 for adults; children 12 and under are free. Parking costs $5 per vehicle.

The festival will feature longtime favorites such as children’s train rides, charity pumpkin games, a petting zoo and frog-jumping championships, but it also will include new acts, such as the Gunslinger Monster Truck Show and the Justino Zoppe Magic Show.

For the first time, specially served only the first weekend, there will be deep-fried Wisconsin cheese curds — going back to when the founding Hunsaders milked cows in Wisconsin before treading south for tomatoes.

New food vendors include Billy Boy’s Subs, Smoothie King and more.

The roster of craft and antique vendors is full for the first weekend and filling up fast for the next two.

Connie Hunsader, Jim’s wife, will assume her usual role, preparing pies in the Eat Shack.
In the days leading up to the festival, she steers Jim’s golf cart, its new nametag — a sticker that spells “Papa’s Cart” — written in cursive.

“She has a real eye for detail,” Trish Hunsader said. “Being out here has really brightened her up. It’s her therapy. We all have a renewed energy and excitement.”

IF YOU GO
Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 12 to 13, Oct. 19 to 20 and Oct. 26 to 27
Location: Hunsader Farms, 5500 CR 675, Bradenton
Cost: Admission is $8. Children 12 and under get in free. Parking costs $5. Corn maze costs an additional $2. Attractions brought from outside sources have their own prices.
Details: 100 craft booths, live music and dance performances, live shows, hayrides, scarecrow displays, a petting zoo, frog-jumping championships and more 
Info: hunsaderfarms.com

Event schedule:
Oct. 12 and 13: Buffalo Country Band, Watching Wendy Band, Sweeney Family Band, Mountain Brew, Howie Banfield Folk Music, Walker Brothers Circus, Farm-ly Feud Game Show, America’s BMX Bike Stunt Show, Collector Car Show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 13, Gunslinger Monster Truck Show, Justino Zoppe Magic Show

Oct. 19 and 20: Buffalo Country Band, Southern Express Bluegrass, Sweeney Family Band, Bob & Tom the Band (Oct. 19), Rick the Trickster (Oct. 20), Old Time Music with Ed & Geraldine, Walker Brothers Circus, Farm-ly Feud Game Show, Smage Brothers Stunt Show, Gunslinger Monster Truck Show, Justino Zoppe Magic Show

Oct. 26 and 27: Buffalo Country Band, Watching Wendy Band (Oct. 26), Porchdogs Band (Oct. 27), Sweeney Family Band, Mean Mary Music, Old Time with Ed & Geraldine, Walker Brothers Circus, Farm-ly Feud Game Show, Moto Cross Stunt Show, Gunslinger Monster Truck Show, Justino Zoppe Magic Show, Children’s Costume Contest (Oct. 27)

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].