Pumpkins in the Prairie

Call it “Field of Dreams: Fall Edition.”
“I’ve always loved fall, and I hated to see an empty lot downtown…”
That’s the best explanation Dan Peach can provide for what has turned into a family attraction on the corner of Main Street and Third Avenue Southeast in Blooming Prairie.
On the site that once housed The Bakery and SportStitch – which were destroyed in a fire in January 2020 – Peach has created Pumpkins in the Prairie.
More than 1,000 pumpkins of all shapes, colors and sizes, as well as large outdoor games, a pumpkin-shaped bounce house, a pumpkin train, photo opportunities, fall flowers and, on weekends, a concession stand that sells mini-donuts, cider, root beer and other sodas fill the once-vacant lot.
“I’d never heard of a downtown pumpkin patch before, so I thought, why not?” said Peach, who is a fulltime Blooming Prairie police officer.
It started last year, just months after the devastating fire, in what Peach calls “a last-minute decision.”
That August, he told his dad, Jeff Peach, that he’d like to create a fall display in the empty lot.
“I think he thought I’d just line up some pumpkins, and that would be it, but I said ‘no, I have a vision. A better vision.’”
Crystal Ripka, of Blooming Prairie, shares Peach’s love of Halloween. She was at the display last week with a child from her day care, but said her daughter was hoping to have some of her senior pictures taken there.
“Halloween is our favorite holiday,” Ripka said.
Most of the pumpkins come from a farm near Northfield; Peach bought many of the games and attractions from Tweite’s Family Farm near Byron, a 12-acre “farm experience” that closed permanently after the 2019 season.
Though Peach doesn’t have specific plans for growing his fall display, he’s certainly not opposed to it.
“I’m always looking for new ideas,” he said, pointing behind him. “I found that trunk on the side of the road the other day, and I knew I could do something with it.”
Peach couldn’t guess at how many hours he’s devoted to the labor of love; it took six hours just to set out all of the pumpkins. He gets help from his girlfriend, Shelby White, when she isn’t working as a Mower County dispatcher.
It’s not a money-maker. Peach said he just hopes to keep it self-sustaining. All orange pumpkins are $5, no matter the size; mark-up is minimal on the rest of the items.
The feedback, he said, has been “99% positive.”
That goes for his other seasonal displays, which have included a Christmas theme, a Valentine’s Day theme, and a spring theme.
So, is Peach just a big kid himself?
“Maybe deep down,” he said. “Maybe.”