Are you the Fryingpan River Pumpkin Fairy?

We see them every year, and the mystery deepens. When traveling up and down the Fryingpan in fall and throughout winter, you’ll see pumpkins stashed in the most curious places. On boulders in the middle of the river, perched twenty feet in the air on red rock canyon walls, placed upon all manner of fence posts and roadside rusted farming implements from years gone by. Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere.

Some say the pumpkin fairy is a tall-drink-of-water brunette that manages a fabled fishing property mid-river. Maybe it’s Neil Diamond. Others think Johnny Morris brings them all the way from his pumpkin patch in Springfield, Missouri. This pumpkin business has friends and neighbors shooting sideways glances at each other. Maybe it’s her? Could it be him?

No one sees who places them. Perhaps it’s the nieces and nephews of Roy Palm, or the children and grandchildren of Wally and Peppy Dallenbach, Bill Fitzsimmons, Lonnie Bones, Meredith Long, Walter Ruch or Doug Pruessing. A fitting tribute, if so.

There’s just no way of knowing.

It might be you. If it is you –kudos, sir. Or ma’am. I just hope you don’t take your secret to the grave and the pumpkins stop showing up. That would be a crime.

Anglers and the public alike get pleasure from this simple act. Forest critters get a reliable snack in winter. I’m surprised there aren’t volunteer pumpkin vines growing everywhere in summer up and down the river road. This must mean all those seeds get gobbled up by spring.

And the mystery keeps deepening. It sets this valley apart. The Pumpkin Fairy is one of the many, many things that make the Roaring Fork Valley great. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

If it’s you –locals, visitors, and the Fryingpan River fauna thank you for it and hope the tradition continues forever.

Written by Scott Spooner