Lambert Pumpkin Patch plans Fall festival

The orange, green and white orbs lining the driveway to Lambert Melons are a sign of the fall season. With the arrival of autumn, that means the time has come again for the rural Ewing farm's fall festival, called Lambert's Annual Pumpkin Patch and Hayrides.

This year's event will be held from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, and Sunday, Oct. 11, at the Lambert family farm, which is located about 20 miles southwest of Ewing at 49343 852 Road. The three main activities the fall festival will feature this year are hayrack rides to and from the farm's pumpkin patch, a haunted forest for all ages and miniature train rides.

"We've got a few other games and little fun things set up for the kids," said 65-year-old Tim Lambert, one of the owners of Lambert Melons. "That varies from year to year."

The miniature train rides will be provided by the Molly Trolley, which is named after Molly, Tim's 23-year-old daughter.

Molly is a 17-year survivor of acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Lambert Melons' fall festival, which has no admission fee, also will feature plenty of produce for sale inside one of the farm's on-site buildings.

The produce will include all sizes, shapes and colors of pumpkins, as well as squash, watermelons, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.

"We hope people buy a lot of produce and pumpkins and stuff while they're here," Tim said.

In addition, there will be featured food items such as caramel apples and kettle corn, as well as other snacks available for visitors to enjoy.

The event also will include a game during which attendees will guess the weight of a giant pumpkin, which was grown from seeds provided by CraZ Pumpkins owners Larry and Tamra Ziems of rural Ewing.

Tim explained why Lambert Melons has hosted a fall festival for 21 years.

"It came about because I got an opportunity to buy a hayrack from a friend of mine that was going out of business near Saint Libory," he said. "Ever since we purchased that hayrack, we've been having the event."

In addition to the hayrack, the farm ended up obtaining many benches that are used inside the building where the produce will be for sale during the event.

"We thought it would be fun to try to do a fall event in this area because they do a lot of them near population centers like Lincoln, Omaha and Grand Island," Tim said.

Lambert decided to hold a one-weekend fall festival each year.

"I didn't know if it would go here, but one weekend a year is really good," Tim said. "I'm not sure we would get the amount of business we've had if we tried to do it all the time, so we gear up for one big weekend."

Tim noted the preparations the farm makes to get ready for the event, which has averaged between 500 and 1,000 attendees each year.

"Two weeks ahead of time, we start getting the haunted forest ready, cleaning out the building," he said. "It gets to be kind of a mess in here because we're mainly in the watermelon and cantaloupe business in July and August."

Lambert Melons' main business location is its store in O'Neill, which is open annually from early July to Oct. 31. It also sells its produce, seasonally, every Thursday in Valentine.

However, people stop by the farm location from time to time to purchase produce, especially on weekends.

"If we're around, we help them," Tim said. "We deliver watermelons and cantaloupe and pumpkins and squash to a number of grocery stores within a 100-mile radius of the place."

Lambert Melons, which Tim owns and operates with his 41-year-old nephew Ben Lambert, still has a lot of watermelons around from its summertime business.

"We're slowing those down as we pick up on pumpkins and gourds," Tim said.

He had been hesitant about holding the farm's fall festival this year because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

"I consulted with medical professionals in the North Central District Health Department," Tim said. "I looked at what some of the other businesses were doing in the state. Everybody I talked to said to be careful."

He explained social distancing should be easily done because most of the event's activities will be outside.

"We decided to have it," Tim said. "We're going to suggest wearing masks on the hayrack and inside the building."

He recommended that people visit Lambert Melons' Facebook Page to stay updated just in case the coronavirus pandemic causes any changes to the plans to hold the fall festival.

"This actually could change if there was a real outbreak or if my wife or I got sick," Tim said. "We probably wouldn't have it."

He encouraged people to attend the event, while again suggesting they wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.

"It's just a lot of fun," Tim said. "People find out that they can come to a smaller event like this and really have a good time just running around the open areas and not paying a big fee like they would have to at some of the ones in Lincoln or Omaha."