6 One of Us
Ponte Vedra Recorder ·September 17, 2015
What do you look forward to most during
the fall in Ponte Vedra Beach?
Halloween is an easy one! Who doesn’t love
Halloween candy and seeing all the neighborhood kids in their costumes? The time leading
into Halloween is fun too. Fresh Market starts
to stock all of their exotic pumpkins, and local
pumpkin patches pop up.
Do you have a favorite local patch?
I stick with the classics: the Lord of Life Lutheran Church on Roscoe Blvd. has been running a patch for 16 years! This year it opens
on Monday., Oct. 12 — and it draws people
from all over the area and into Jacksonville.
The patch is open from 2 p.m. until dusk
on weekdays, 9 a.m. to dusk on Saturdays and
Sundays from 11 a.m. to dusk.
Why is it your favorite?
Well, part of it is how long they’ve been doing it. You’ve got to respect tradition!
But they care a lot about the pumpkins, too,
which is obviously near and dear to my heart.
How so?
Volunteers go into the patch every two days
and they gently roll the pumpkins to keep
them in tip top shape for carving!
No joke!
Any other fun traditions at the patch?
Definitely! They’re going to hold a weekend of family fun days on Oct. 17 and 18 from
11 a.m. to 4 o’clock. It’ll have bounce houses,
crafts, face painting and food. Plus some fun
for adults, too, like raffles for golf and wine
baskets. All the proceeds will go to charity.
Are there any traditions surrounding the
first day of fall?
Sure, people around the world celebrate the
arrival of autumn. In Japan, during the week
around the first day of fall, people visit the
graves of their ancestors and family to leave
flowers and meditate on their relatives. There
is also Michaelmas, which usually comes near
the first day of fall. It’s the Catholic feast day
for the Archangel Michael.
For most families, it’s just a great time to
kick off fall traditions. And it’s an awesome
time to live in Ponte Vedra — as if there’s a
ever a bad time to live here, am I right?
How do you feel about Christmas decorations in stores at the same time as fall
decorations?
Photo by Lenore Edman
Jackie O’Lantern is the official ambassador for autumn on the First Coast
and beyond. With the first day of fall less than a week away — landing this year on Wednesday,
Sept. 23 — O’Lantern is especially busy preparing for the launch of the season.
Ugh – don’t get me started! Every year, Old
Man Winter’s d ecorations creep into my time
to shine earlier and earlier. I mean, don’t get
me wrong, Jack Frost is a really good friend of
mine, we kind of have to be being neighbors
on the holiday calendar and all, but come on
– fall and winter are two separate seasons,
let’s keep them that way, shall we?
While many people look forward to the return of football, pumpkin spice lattes and cooler Do you throw an annual Halloween party?
weather, O’Lantern says that her favorite part of the season has more to do with the ways that
the community comes together, especially locally.
“Neighbors are all home from vacation and spending more time outside,” O’Lantern said.
“People just see more of each other in the fall!”
Yes, I don’t want to brag, but I throw an
amazing Halloween party every year! It’s a
tradition. My guest list includes Walter Wisenhower a.k.a the Abercrombie Zombie (your
paper did a One of Us feature on him a few
years ago). He’s a good buddy, and so is
Frank N. Stein, Sam Witch, Scare D. Cat and
Grue Some. We have a HOWL-ing good time!