by FUMIKO HATTORI

When the foliage starts to show its autumn colors, the time of year has come to welcome the Great Pumpkin. Or go to a pumpkin patch to pick a great pumpkin.

“We have a good crop…The color is good. They seem nice and solid. No disease problems. Nice handles or stems,” said Todd Butler of Butler’s Orchard in Germantown, Md. His father started the farm in 1950. Since then, it has grown to 300 acres.

The family farm’s ongoing Pumpkin Festival attracted crowds of families, friends and couples on Sunday. Some said they come every year, and some even come for the Easter events.

Children with Halloween-face paint danced to the live banjo music played by a four-man band next to the bouncy hayloft, where adults had as much fun as the children rolling around in the hay.

Behind the loft is a corn maze–mysteriously named the Twisted Pumpkin Maze. Visitors can wander in and have their own “Field of Dreams” experience as they disappear into a 7-foot-tall corn field.

Don’t be put off by the long line for the hayride out to the pumpkin patches because it arrives far more frequently than the metro. Slow-paced John Deere tractors drive the slightly dusty 10-minute road through the scenic slopes of the vast farmland.

There’s no race to pick your great pumpkin because plenty of pumpkins of various sizes, shapes and colors sit amid the vines. Small children try to pick them up; dads actually do and show off by doing weightlifting exercises with the pumpkins. The hayride back seems a little tighter than the ride up with the added load of picked pumpkins.

Butler said he expects thousands of visitors this weekend if the weather is good.

The pumpkins are priced at 49 cents a pound. The ones at the patches are up to about 30 pounds; if you’re looking for a larger one, drop by the market, which is on the way to the festival.

Festival admission: $9 per person; free for children under 2 (pumpkin fee is separate).