Pumpkin hunters turn out for opening day at Cox’s Ponds

Saturday was a beautiful day with blue skies, sunshine and a mild breeze, which helped shoot up attendance for opening day at the pumpkin patch at Cox’s Ponds, west of Champion. A fun, colorful medley of food booths, crafts, creepy decorations and pumpkins as far as the eye could see drew in visitors. Activities, eerie apparitions and fun inflatables were placed around the area for everyone to enjoy. The corn maze opened later in the morning for a spooky adventure for those who dared. Mark and Renae Bottom’s daughter, Whitney Soper and husband Troy of Ogallala, top, ran the race earlier in the morning with their one-year-old red lab, Lily. They found some good-sized pumpkins to replace the ones that once decorated their front porch before Lily ate them all. Five-year-old Blake Johnson of Champion, second from top, entertains herself by rolling down a hill by the inflatable castle. Jeannine Cox, owner of the pumpkin patch, is working on some decorations while two skeletons sneak onto the roof. Bottom, 10-year-old Cyanne Weiss, left, and sister Alyssa, 7, of Enders eagerly search for tiny sea shells hidden in the sand box. The weather took a turn for the worse overnight Saturday and Sunday’s activities had to be postponed. The pumpkin patch will be open again this Saturday. (Johnson Publications photos)