Fall "Spooktacular" Attracts Thousands To Farm

Fall Spooktacular Attracts Thousands To Farm SPECIALTY/SERVICES With an exploding still five grinning pumpkin-headed cornstalk landmarks and 17 restored Oliver tractors Jim Anderson can’t help but enjoy running his “agritainment” business and fall “spooktacular” After years of typical crop farming and operating a feedlot the Eerie Colo farmer and his family now attract as many as 70 000 local and city folks from Denver and Boulder to their farm in the fall to buy pumpkins go through a 30-acre corn maze and get spooked for Halloween     The scary stuff includes a haunted hayride through the corn maze and a trail walk through a cemetery and old West town – all with masked monsters popping up unexpectedly     Anderson also came up with the idea for pumpkin-headed landmarks and built two 22 1/2-ft tall ones and three smaller ones     “I use 10-in diameter thin-wall steel pipe for the bodies and weld on 2-in pipe for the arms ” he says Pipe braces on the base hold it up He wraps the whole thing with chicken wire and wires on cornstalks Anderson purchases the 4-ft Styrofoam pumpkin heads from a local artist     The still he made complete with a fake fire appears to blow up when he hits a switch to shoot a propane flame out the top – when visitors are near of course     Despite all the clever ideas his biggest pride and joy is his collection of Oliver tractors which started with two tractors his father bought after WWII Anderson started collecting and his father-in-law Alden Elshof restored them Now Anderson has 17 models from between 1949 and 1964     The old tractors haul people on hay rides pull a water tank and do other work associated with the business He also raises 35 acres of pumpkins and 100 acres of corn     “We’ve been doing this 15 years and we’re having fun ” he says noting a daughter and son-in-law recently joined the business     In addition to the fall activities the farm has a party barn with a commercial kitchen to hold weddings company picnics and other events such as an all-school reunion attended by 2 000 people     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Anderson Farms 6728 County Rd 3 1/4 Erie Colo 80516 ph 303 828-5210; www andersonfarms com

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