In this episode, we chat with Jennifer Dobson, founder of The Rolling Pumpkin Patch in Bessemer, Alabama. The Rolling Pumpkin Patch was created to allow families to experience the fun of a good fall pumpkin patch without accessibility barriers. Since opening in 2021, it has welcomed thousands of visitors and grown to offer a variety of adaptive activities, ensuring that everyone can join in the fun.
Learn more about The Rolling Pumpkin Patch on their website.
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Episode Transcript
Quick Navigation (click the linked text below to jump to a new section)
- Intro
- How The Rolling Pumpkin Patch was created
- How the pumpkin patch is designed to be accessible
- The feedback Jennifer has received from visitors
- Jennifer’s memorable moments that highlight the importance of the patch
- A larger movement for accessible seasonal activities or festivals
- What you should do if you want to start your own accessible pumpkin patch
- The local organizations, schools or disability advocates that have shaped or supported the project
- The future of the pumpkin patch
- Jennifer’s final thoughts
*Edited for clarity*
Host 00:04
This is Wellness, Health and Everything Else: a NCHPAD Podcast.
Welcome to Wellness, Health and Everything Else: a NCHPAD Podcast. NCHPAD is the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability – the nation’s premier center dedicated to promoting the health and wellness of everyone. In each episode, we explore topics at the intersection of health, wellness and mobility limitations. If you have an idea for a topic, would like to learn more about a topic or are interested in our free resources, programs and partnership opportunities, email us at nchpad@uab.edu, give us a call at 866-866-8896 or check out our website at nchpad.org.
Music Interlude
Host 00:53
In this episode, we talk with Jennifer Dobson, founder of The Rolling Pumpkin Patch in Bessemer, Alabama. The Rolling Pumpkin Patch was created to allow families to experience the fun of a good fall pumpkin patch without accessibility barriers. Since 2021, The Rolling Pumpkin Patch has welcomed thousands of people and expanded to include more adaptive activities, allowing everyone to have fun during their visit. To get the episode started, we asked Jennifer about the inspiration for creating a rolling pumpkin patch and how it grew from concept to reality.
Jennifer Dobson 01:22
So, we have an adopted daughter, Lily, who is 13. She’s from Haiti. She came home in 2015. And I believe in 2019, we visited a local pumpkin patch. She was getting to the age where she was getting a little bit heavier. She was getting a little bit bigger. She uses a wheelchair daily, and when we got there, we’re used to making things work and just making it happen, and this was the first time that we kind of felt defeated, like this is not something that we can make happen. We loaded her up on the hayride that takes you out to the pumpkin field, and there was no way to really get her chair out there. There was nowhere really for her chair to roll while we were out there. So, it was a matter of passing her between me and my husband and my younger (older daughter at the time) and carrying back the pumpkins as well. And so, we kind of all left hot, sticky, dirty, defeated, and came home, and I think that was the first time I realized, okay, there’s going to be some things that we just can’t do anymore, and fall pumpkin patches and things that were some of our favorite things to do. So, we got home, and I kind of looked out at our front yard. We have almost six acres, which are pretty flat. And [I] thought, we can do this. Why are we trying to struggle to make it happen when we have it in our front yard? And so, [we] started thinking and brainstorming. The first one we decided to do in 2021. I think this is our fifth year. And I really thought it would just be her and her friends at Lakeshore [Foundation]. I thought if we just throw this together, we might have 20 kids from our basketball team and her swim team come, and lo and behold, we had some Lakeshore kids, but a lot of it was kids and adults in the community that kind of saw what was happening. We threw it together in three weeks. We had a bunch of friends that we just called and said, “Hey, we’re thinking about doing this. Can you come and help us?” And so, I look back at the very first one, to where we’ve come from now, and I was like, oh my god, it looks so tiny and so thrown together, and it looked like it was in the front yard. But they had a blast. We had about 60 kids and adults in chairs and walkers at the first one. The next year, it grew to about 300, and then the next year, we added field trips on Fridays. And I think the first year, we had three schools, and then the last two years, after that, we’ve had five to six schools, and we’ve already booked four schools for this year. So, it’s kind of grown. Last year, between the field trip days and our Saturday, we had over 1,000 people in our front yard.
Host 04:17
We asked how the pumpkin patch is designed to be accessible for individuals with mobility limitations and what adaptations make the biggest difference for visitors.
Jennifer Dobson 04:25
So, most of our property was already pretty flat and pretty accessible, just because Lily is already in a chair. We live this life daily, so we kind of know what needs are there for those who use wheels and walkers. And so, we started looking at things. We started trying to remove the barriers of anything, and it’s kind of adapted every year. For example, our corn maze last year, we were able to make it bigger, but we also cut a little slat in the front where wheelchairs could roll completely up, and the kids could just crawl in. We have bouncy houses.
The first year, we got a bouncy house, and we realized the opening was too small; it was hard to get the kids in who needed to be carried in. So, we made sure the next year that we had a completely open, accessible bouncy house where they can easily crawl in or easily be carried in and laid down. We made sure that we had foods and treats that are for everybody – for the kids that can’t chew and the kids that can. We made sure that all of our rolling areas where they have access to are flat and free of barriers. We have accessible hayrides, [with] trailers that fold down, where we can roll the wheelchairs directly onto the trailers, and they can actually ride in their chairs around the property. We installed wheelchair swings last year so the kids can just roll up into the swings and stay in their wheelchairs and swing. We have face painting. We have a petting zoo. The Pumpkin Patch is completely accessible. We made sure that it’s not too far. They don’t have to travel too far. There are big, wide-open rows. This year, I’m going to add some stands to where the pumpkins sit up off the ground so they can just pull it off the stand into their lap. We’re still learning and adapting as well. Our daughter’s pretty capable, pretty able, and so sometimes she makes things look a little easier than they have here. So, I watch a lot of our families that come and say, “Okay, this is not working for this child. Let’s revamp this. Let’s redo this next year.” So, we’re adapting as well.
Host 06:31
Jennifer discussed the feedback she has received from families and participants who may not have access to traditional pumpkin patches.
Jennifer Dobson 06:37
To me, the biggest thing is that they come back every year and that when they sign up, they put in their slots, “We’re so excited!” Year after year, my favorite thing is that I get to sit back and go back through all of the social media feeds and see the families post their pictures and their videos of their kids. And almost the common thread is that nobody looked at us. We were not different. We were all part of a community, and we were just able to be ourselves that day. One family that had a non-verbal child, and he doesn’t do really well in a lot of settings, and they were like, “This is the first time we’ve been able to go anywhere as a family and not feel like we’re being looked at or being talked about, or we have to make him behave or act a certain way we were able to just be.” And so that, to me, is the biggest blessing. To see families being able to be a complete family, be themselves, with all of their children, and feel included and seen.
Host 07:38
Here are some memorable moments from Jennifer that capture why this pumpkin patch matters.
Jennifer Dobson 07:42
So, the first field trip we had was a school that traveled from Tuscaloosa. A lot of their kids were non-verbal, a lot of severe disabilities, and the parents that came, a lot of them were in tears by the time that they left that day, because that’s the first field trip that they’ve ever been on. Some of these kids were 16, 17, 18 years old, and they’ve been in school for a lot of years and have never been able to experience field trips. And as a parent, when you sit back and you watch other kids be able to experience things, you want your child to experience those things as well. To see the joy that they had just being able to experience a field trip! And then there was another family – I can’t remember which patch it was – that was sitting at a table. It was a parent and their spouse and their two kids, and both of their kids were tube-fed, and they had all of their tube supplies spread out on the table. They were feeding their kids. They had all of their fall treats that we serve here. Everything’s free. And so, they had all of their food spread out, all of the tubes spread out. But it was almost like they could freely sit and be. They could freely eat in whatever capacity they needed to. Nobody was looking. No kids were staring. Nobody was pointing. And then I remember there was another little kid. He was maybe a year and a half, two years old, and he was on a vent, and I remember them lifting him up. We have Hank the camel, who is a celebrity who comes, and they were lifting [the child] up, and they put him on the camel. And I thought, in what world would a vent kid be sitting on a camel? Parents were beaming from ear to ear, and photos were being snapped. And then, just personally, this past year, a lot of our family members were able to come and be a part of it. And so, for me, watching my family be able to take up these calls and be able to move forward with it, that was just a special memory for me and myself to say, “Okay, all these families are getting memories, but now my family’s involved, and they’ve jumped on board, and this will be carried through.”
Host 09:45
Here are Jennifer’s thoughts about how the pumpkin patch is part of a larger movement for accessible seasonal activities or festivals.
Jennifer Dobson 09:52
We’re one community in one area, and the more that we’re in this world, the more I realize there are accessible needs spread out through this whole country. And so, my vision would be that others would see what’s taken root here and say, “Okay, we can replicate this here. We can replicate this there.” We’ve started a non-profit foundation for that specific call to say, “Okay, what’s next? Where do we see this going? And where do we see other opportunities popping up for families and kids to get together and be a part of something that just allows them to feel a little extra special and seen.”
Host 10:27
We asked Jennifer if another community wanted to launch their own rolling pumpkin patch, what would be the very first action they should take?
Jennifer Dobson 10:32
Sit down with those of us who are doing it and let us go through the process. Let us go through what it all takes to pull it off, because when you start talking about accessibility, and people say things are accessible, until you live in this world, accessibility to you is something totally different. For example, we were looking for a theater class for my child to attend, and somebody’s question was, “Well, can she just climb a couple of stairs? We’re accessible.” And I’m like, “Well, do you have a ramp onto the stage?” And they said, “No, it’s got some stairs.” So, accessibility to them was totally different. And so, the main thing is to sit down and talk to those who have been there. Talk to the accessibility world to make sure that what you’re launching is truly going to be accessible for families, because if not, you’re just creating another patch or you’re just creating another event. The main thing is that you don’t lose focus on who it’s for and what it’s for.
Host 11:32
Here’s how local organizations, schools or disability advocates have played a role in shaping or supporting the project.
Jennifer Dobson 11:38
The main support has been our friends at Lakeshore, because they already have paved the way. They already know. They are our biggest cheerleaders, our biggest advocates, our best friends who come out and help us. It’s [also] been businesses that we’ve met through relationships with other friends that have funded and kept us going. So, it’s kind of like Lakeshore is the back piece that helps us make sure we’re staying accessible, that we’re doing all of the right things, that we’re going in the direction and providing the support. And then we’ve had a couple of local businesses that have said, “Okay, we’ll pour into it financially and make sure that it happens.”
Host 12:19
Here’s Jennifer discussing the future of The Rolling Pumpkin Patch.
Jennifer Dobson 12:23
I don’t know that we have that figured out yet. I feel like it grows every year. Last year was crazy because it almost doubled what we were used to. So, we had to, I guess, adjust with growth and figure out what we did well last year and what we didn’t do well last year. And for this year, I feel like the theme is kind of just taking it back to the basics of doing what we did in the beginning, making sure the kids and the parents feel seen, that we don’t have to have all of these bells and whistles, that we just need to provide a day of fellowship and fun and accessibility, and then grow that moving forward. I would like to see more schools be involved and jump on. Because the special needs community in the schools doesn’t really get the opportunities that the general education classes get. They don’t really get field trips. If they do, I know there was a couple of years we had to fund the busses to bring them out here because the county wouldn’t fund the busses to bring them out here. So, there are checks and balances, and more advocacy needs to happen for those things. So that’s kind of where I see the future, hopefully growing and hopefully expanding out to different communities.
Host 13:41
Here are Jennifer’s final thoughts.
Jennifer Dobson 13:43
The best thing is to go to our new website. It’s nolimitlily.org, and from there, you can go to our pages. There is a rolling Pumpkin Patch page with all of the information there. You can join our email list. That’s how our sign-ups are going to come out this year. That’s how you can stay plugged in. And then you can see some other things that we’re passionate about, that we hope to move towards in the future and launch towards in the future.
Host 14:11
Thanks for listening to Wellness, Health and Everything Else. For a full episode transcript, visit our website and find the episode in the podcasts and videos section. You can also find helpful links mentioned in the episode in the episode description on streaming platforms and the episode page on our website. If you have questions about NCHPAD’s free resources, programs and partnership opportunities, email us at nchpad@uab.edu, call us at 866-866-8896 or check out our website at nchpad.org.