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Pumpkin pride: Riverbend Farms attracts thousands annually
James Nix / jnix@independenttribune.com
McKenzie Maultsby carries a pumpkin she found at the Riverbend Farm Pumpkin Patch Tuesday afternoon.
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Published: October 22, 2009
Two-year-old Anthony Mannino of Highland Creek walked carefully through the pumpkin patch at Riverbend Farm in Midland, looking for the perfect pumpkin for his porch.
A big round one caught his eye. He ran to it and lifted the orange mass that was nearly half his size.
"It's too heavy," Anthony said, putting it back on the ground.
Mary and Jim Little and their adult children run Riverbend Farm, which Mary calls the "best kept secret in Cabarrus County." The farm is located at 12150 McMans Road in Midland just off N.C. 24-27.
Riverbend Farm has been attracting attention and drawing about 20,000 visitors from throughout the region each year. Last March, Charlotte Magazine designated Riverbend Farm the "Best Pumpkin Patch" in the region and also designated it as recession proof fun for the family. The farm charges $4 admission for age 2 and older and 40 cents per pound for pumpkins.
Part of its appeal is Jim Little's childlike joy with adding to the attractions at the farm, which also opens for school tours in the mornings. Little, who inherited the farm from his father, has built a farm-themed playground made with small silos. There's a tractor permanently parked with stairs and walkways so children can peek inside. There's a giant pumpkin, a teepee, picnic tables and a pond with a covered bridge.
Recently, the Littles added buffalo to their farm just because "Jim had to have them," said Mary Little.
The buffalo and the teepee also fit a theme on the farm, daughter Sarah Little said.
Over the years, the family has found numerous arrowheads on its 22 acres. They tend to reveal themselves after a heavy rain, she said. Two of the arrowheads have been dated by experts as being 10,000 years old, she said.
When visitors arrive at the farm, they start at the country store where they can get souvenirs, candy and Tony's Ice Cream, which is brought in from Gastonia. The store has a porch that wraps around much of the building where kids and their parents can relax in one of the blue or green rocking chairs while they wait for the tractor to pull them around the pond to the pumpkin patch. A field full of blooming sunflowers sits next to the patch where you pick your pumpkin.
Moms and dads frequently tote along cameras for the traditional toddler at the pumpkin patch shot.
"It's great. I never realized it was here before," said Michele Schiedenhelm.
Schiedenhelm said she and her daughters Mia, 9, and Dane, 4, came with a group of nurses from the CMC Northeast Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and their nine children.
"This is our first time," she said. "It was reasonable and really close for everybody."
After picking her pumpkin and checking out the sunflower patch, 4-year-old Aubry Curtis described what it's like at Riverbend Farm: "It's perfect."
Her mother Lianna Curtis, one of the nurses in Schiedenhelm's group, said they moved down from Wisconsin recently.
"We kind of miss the apple hollers. That's what they call pumpkin patches there," she said.
"I'm going to make something with the pumpkin guts this year," nurse and mom Kim Bass said as she boarded the tractor pull with her friends.
After picking and paying for their pumpkins, the kids and their parents headed to the playground and a few stopped for an ice cream cone on the porch.
Riverbend Farm is open to the public from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
For more information about Riverbend Farm, call 704-888-2891 or visit www.riverbendfarm.net.
• Contact Karen Cimino Wilson: 704-789-9141
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