{"id":28123,"date":"2025-10-30T18:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/28123\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T18:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:21:17","slug":"this-texas-town-probably-grew-your-halloween-pumpkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/28123\/","title":{"rendered":"This Texas town probably grew your Halloween pumpkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Subscribe to The Y\u2019all<\/a> \u2014 a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.<\/p>\n

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FLOYDADA \u2014 Every fall, when the air starts to chill and the nights get longer, the small town of Floydada becomes saturated in a hue of orange.<\/p>\n

The town\u2019s welcome sign is surrounded by large pumpkins, stacked for the ideal fall photo op. Smaller pumpkins line the walkways to local businesses. Visitors flock in from all over the region \u2014 and state \u2014 to find the perfect pumpkin to welcome the holiday season. <\/p>\n

Floydada has carved its own path in the pumpkin industry. The small town of 2,500 people isn\u2019t just another place tapping into the pumpkin craze that\u2019s taken over the masses in recent years. It is known as the Pumpkin Capital of the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I say \u2018Floydada\u2019 to most people in the state, they\u2019re going to say \u2018pumpkins,\u2019\u201d said Ryan Crowe, executive director for the Floydada Economic Development Corporation. \u201cYou can\u2019t pay for name recognition like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pumpkins are synonymous with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and just about every fall-related activity in between. As the famous fruit stars in everything from jack-o-lanterns to pumpkin spice lattes and pies, it\u2019s given a boost to the national agriculture industry. In 2024, U.S. pumpkin farmers produced more than $274 million<\/a> in market value. <\/p>\n

Texas is among the top six states in the United States for pumpkin production. In 2020, Texas farmers led the nation in pumpkin crop value <\/a>at $25.9 million. In the following year, they produced 108 million pounds of pumpkins<\/a>. In Floydada, about 50 miles northeast of Lubbock, around 50 million pounds of the state\u2019s pumpkins are grown every year. <\/p>\n

\"AA car drives through downtown Floydada on Oct. 20. Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the main thing that keeps us on the map,\u201d said Kalli Martin, president of the Floydada Chamber of Commerce. \u201cSo we\u2019re very prideful of it and all our growers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Crowe has taken Floydada-grown pumpkins all over the country \u2014 from the Texas Department of Agriculture in Austin to Congressional offices in Washington. When he\u2019s stopped by airport security or officers guarding the nation\u2019s capitol, Crowe sees it as another opportunity to brag and let them know about Floydada\u2019s legacy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all collectively in agreement that this is who we are, and this is how we are going to talk about our community,\u201d Crowe said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s all going to be surrounded by a very visible sign of two major holidays that happen every year.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jason Pyle, owner and producer of the Pumpkin Pyle<\/a> farm, is one of the main pumpkin growers in Floydada. Pyle and his family started growing in 1991 with about 25 acres. They now have 1,200 acres and grow more than 50 varieties of pumpkins, gourds, squash, hay bales and corn bundles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to make it a one-stop shop deal for fall decor,\u201d Pyle said. <\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Castro moves pallets of pumpkins to load into a trailer at Pumpkin Pyle in Floydada. Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

As their farm flourished, so did their business deals. Pyle pumpkins can be found in local grocery stores and large chains like H-E-B. The Dallas Arboretum regularly uses Pyle\u2019s pumpkins for its annual fall display and elaborate pumpkin villages. Pyle, 50, ships his crop to other states too, including Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, and even as far as Florida. Pyle said when the season is in full swing, he ships around 1,500 bins of pumpkins a day. <\/p>\n

The season is getting longer, too. Pyle used to start selling pumpkins around mid-September. More recently, the farm began selling pumpkins by the end of August. Pyle also grows cotton and other commodities, but people don\u2019t care about that, he jokes. They reach out and ask him how the pumpkins are growing, and even come out to his warehouse to see the behind-the-scenes action. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty amazing how people have flocked to this,\u201d Pyle said. \u201cI thought it would be a fad, but it has really blown up the last couple of years.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pyle credits much of his family\u2019s success to the community and how the town has embraced the pumpkin industry. Floydada hosts its annual Punkin\u2019 Days<\/a> on the second Saturday of October every year. The celebration has grown during the last 40 years, with this year\u2019s attendance drawing in an estimated 12,000 people. <\/p>\n

It has made fall one of Tim Assiter\u2019s favorite times of the year. Assiter is the owner of the Assiter Punkin Ranch<\/a>, and by growing pumpkins in Floydada, he\u2019s continuing a family tradition that began in the 1960s. Assiter and his family run the only pumpkin patch in Floyd County, which is free to the public and has pumpkin train rides, carnival rides, and a petting zoo for visitors. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real pleasure for us to see our hard work rewarded with the smiles on kids\u2019 faces,\u201d Assiter said. <\/p>\n

Assiter\u2019s family has grown pumpkins in Floydada for more than 60 years. A man named B.A. Robertson, who Assiter called \u201cUncle Slim,\u201d planted five acres of pumpkins in the late 1950s. When Assiter\u2019s grandfather passed away, Robertson took Assiter\u2019s father under his wing, and he started growing pumpkins at 16. From there, growing pumpkins became ingrained in the Assiter family. <\/p>\n

However, there are fewer growers and acres than there were in the past. In 1987, there were 35 growers covering about 3,500 acres. Now, Assiter said there\u2019s only three growers \u2014 him, Pyle, and Amado Morales \u2014 who grow around 1,500 acres a year. Still, Assiter said the number of pumpkins has stayed the same. <\/p>\n

\"DuringDuring fall, pumpkins are on display all over town in Floydada. Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

While the Pumpkin Capital declaration is self-proclaimed, Texas lawmakers officially declared it the pumpkin capital of Texas in 2013. Still, Assiter said the title is very important to him and the community. Pumpkins are indigenous to the area, and the Chamber of Commerce has promoted the crop to ensure the community\u2019s success. Assiter said it\u2019s helped make Floydada, and their pumpkins, famous. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want a genuine Floydada pumpkin,\u201d Assiter said. <\/p>\n

Martin, with the Chamber of Commerce, said the future of Floydada will continue to flourish with the annual pumpkin crop. The economic development is trying to expand their title too, sort of. Morton, Illinois, home to Libby\u2019s pumpkin products, has claimed the title of \u201cPumpkin Capital of the World.\u201d <\/p>\n

Illinois is the nation\u2019s largest pumpkin producer. However, according to the USDA, most of the pumpkins grown in Illinois are used for pie filling and other food uses, which demand a lower price per pound than decorative pumpkins. This still gives Texas a slight edge in the competition, and has inspired Crowe and others in Floydada to try and see who can claim to be the pumpkin capital of the universe. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe street sign for Pumpkin Capital Lane on Floydada\u2019s square. Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Disclosure: H-E-B has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Subscribe to The Y\u2019all \u2014 a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2389,19188,19221,27,29,28,375],"class_list":{"0":"post-28123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-agriculture","9":"tag-floydada","10":"tag-high-plains","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-headlines","13":"tag-texas-news","14":"tag-west-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}