Moses Lake farm supplies thousands of pumpkins to Brick West courtyard festival for charity

It’s the Great Pumpkin Fest, Charlie Brown.

Joshua “Pumpkin Cowboy” Loera is continuing his family tradition of delivering pumpkins to town for the Great Pumpkin Fest that starts Friday. He hauls in about 10,000 of them from his father’s farm near Moses Lake to Brick West Brewing Co. downtown for a fun fall festival over the next three weekends.

Proceeds from pumpkin sales and raffle tickets support local charities.

Loera started the event during the COVID-19 pandemic to support Bite2Go, a program by Second Harvest that provides weekend meals for children in need.

“I had this crazy idea of raising money for them during COVID,” Loera said.

Since his father works for a seed company, he had access to a lot of pumpkin seeds.

“So, I asked my dad to grow a couple thousand pumpkins, bring them to Spokane, sell them and see what happens,” Loera said. “Here we are five years later.”

The event raised over $34,000 the first year and helped feed 200 kids for four school years, Loera said.

This year, 50% of the funds will support Project ID, a nonprofit that supports adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The other half will be split among other nonprofits.

Pumpkins are $10 for a large or two smaller ones. There’s a colorful variety, not just orange jack-o’-lantern carvers. Decorative white pumpkins mixed in with warty goblins and pie pumpkins make the experience like a visit to a real pumpkin patch.

The festival features live music with Friday night line dancing, then face painting and a petting zoo on Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 13.

Loera will donate whatever pumpkins are leftover to schools, churches and other charities.