Where's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown?

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Hold onto your blanket, Linus. There may not be a Great Pumpkin this year.
A bumper crop of hot summer weather has left much of the region with a pumpkin harvest that's decidedly on the small side.
The stretch of hot weather in August created drought conditions that stunted the growth of pumpkins, growers say.

"We don't have the numbers and they are definitely smaller," says Camie Goetsch, owner of Green Acres Farm Market at the corner of U.S. 31 and Lake Michigan Drive in Grand Haven.
"We are known for big, quality pumpkins. Everyone comes from miles away for our pumpkins. Our pumpkins this year are big, but not what we normally have," said Goetsch, who expects to sell 20,000 to 30,000 pumpkins supplied by two local farms.
Goetsch plans to absorb the loss herself.
"I have a hard time charging more to the public because I depend on repeat business," she said.
The market usually sells out a week before Halloween, but this year she expects her pumpkins to disappear even earlier.
The hot weather means many pumpkin crops are ripening earlier than normal this year. And the presence of so many pumpkins so early at area farmer's markets leave some wondering whether the jack-o-lanterns will hold out for Halloween.
The good news is that West Michigan's pumpkin crop is fairing better than those harvests in Southwest Michigan or the Chicago area, says Bill Steenwyk, district extension educator for commercial vegetables at Michigan State University's Clarksville Horticultural Experiment Station in Ionia County. Flooded fields in those areas caused some pumpkin crops to rot.

"Many other areas were quite a bit wetter than we are," Steenwyk said.
Operations like Post Family Farm in Hudsonville kept their pumpkin plants well-watered. And the farm's sandy soil mitigated the arrival of heavy rains last month, keeping the pumpkins from getting too soggy.
"We had excellent pumpkin crop conditions," said Bill Post, who sells most of his pumpkins to U-pick customers. The 80-acre spread includes a farm market, hay rides, a greenhouse, pumpkin train, corn maze, sleigh rides, ice skating and Christmas trees.

Jerry Paulson's 7-acre pumpkin patch tucked into his 100-acre farm in Belding has seen better years. He sells most of his pumpkins at his farm's roadside market. They range from half-pound decorations to 200-pound show stoppers.
"They got ripe early because of the hot and dry weather," said Paulson, who began to see his pumpkins blush orange the first week of August.
Paulson, who also provides pumpkins to the Lowell Fall Festival and Meijer Gardens, says he plans to keep his at the same price.
At the stores, pumpkins are likely to be a little smaller and a little pricier.
"I don't think customers will notice much," says Stacie Behler, spokeswoman for the Walker-based Meijer stores.