Central New York farmers are ready for crowds of pumpkin pickers after spending part of the dry summer worried about the fall harvest. A drought hit most of upstate New York in July, threatening many of the seasonal staples they planned to sell.
But two locations in the region say they were able to get through the dry spell.
Curt Karboski, owner of Parish Pumpkin Patch in Oswego County, said the dry weather had him concerned, but just enough rain came through to keep his crops going.
"We got a couple of just random small thunderstorms that came through and gave us like a half inch of rain, and that was all we needed to get us through the driest part of the year," Karnoski said.
But in southern Onondaga County, a Pompey farm said it wasn't so lucky.
Springside Farm partner Paulie Drexler said at one point they had to use a water wagon.
"That was a lot of hours of somebody going back and forth. It worked out, but it's extra, it's extra work," Drexler said.
Drexler said she is grateful good water sources surround her farm, but they had also prepared the ground to deal with dry conditions.
"We do an awful lot with organic matter in the soil, so some of our ground retains moisture better than some other people's," Drexler said.
Despite the drought, both Springside Farm and Parish Pumpkin Patch were able to have a crop output on par with last year.