Thieves steal 300 pumpkins from 85-year-old Ohio farmer’s patch

An 85-year-old farmer in Pickerington, Ohio, is mourning the loss of hundreds of his prized pumpkins after thieves struck his fields in late September.

According to WHIO-TV, around 300 pumpkins were stolen from Sam’s Pumpkin Patch, owned by longtime farmer Terry Dunlap. The theft represented “a loss of more than $6,000 for the owner” and involved what Dunlap described as his very best pumpkins.

“It hurt. I was, I was sick when I saw it,” Dunlap told WHIO. “I saw they were gone. I just almost, I got sick. I just physically, you know, it got me.”

Dunlap explained to WBNS-10TV that the thieves targeted the most valuable pumpkins.

“They took the great big ones about the size of a bushel basket with big handles on them,” he said. “So the premium pumpkins that nobody else has, and that’s some now somebody else does have.”

He discovered the crime while checking his plants. “When I went in to spray, the vines were all knocked down and the pumpkins were all gone,” Dunlap said. He suspects the thieves came at night: “Somebody come back at night and went in there and got them.”

Sam’s Pumpkin Patch, founded in 1988 with Dunlap’s late business partner Sam Patterson, has been a community fixture for decades.

Dunlap told WBNS that Patterson would have been equally upset:

“Sam would be upset about the pumpkins being stolen, just like me.”

The theft feels especially personal because Dunlap is known for growing pumpkins with long, sturdy stems. “Look around. You don’t see little stems any place … all the pumpkins I have had big stems, and that makes a difference,” he explained.

In the wake of the theft, Dunlap has installed a locked gate at the field entrance and has turned to local Amish growers near Centerburg to replenish his stand.

“We’ll get them replaced,” he said. “We’ll have big pumpkins, little pumpkins, anything for fall.”

He also filed a report with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office and is offering a reward for tips. Dunlap urged the community to stay alert:

“We’re just hoping that people will look and see somebody new that’s never had pumpkins before, that’s got great, big ones with big handles in their yard for sale real cheap,” he told WBNS. “So look around all of central Ohio. They could be any place.”

The Scioto Post reported that Dunlap is not the only farmer hit. Puffy’s Pumpkin Patch in Circleville also lost a significant amount of its crop, while Madmax Farms in Delaware narrowly avoided a theft. Sam’s Pumpkin Patch called the crime a “felony-level loss” and urged customers to support local farms by visiting directly.

“The best way to support us — and any small local farmer — is to visit our patch and pick your perfect pumpkin,” the farm posted on social media.